Maroon-tailed Parakeet (Pyrrhura melanura) [XC275208]
by Patricio Mena Valenzuela from Esmeraldas: R\u00edo Negro Chico, S of Alto Tambo, Ecuador (alarm call, alarm calls)
Maroon-tailed Parakeet (Pyrrhura melanura) [XC257653]
by Mitch Lysinger from Loreto: between Iquitos and mouth of R\u00edo Napo, Peru (flight call, flight calls)
Subspecies
Pyrrhura melanura (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was provisionally split into Maroon-tailed Parakeet (Pyrrhura melanura) and Pyrrhura chapmani by Stotz et al. (1996) but this treatment has not been adopted by BirdLife International, following SACC (2005).
Forms a superspecies with El Oro Parakeet (Pyrrhura orcesi), but also pairs parapatrically with Painted Parakeet (Pyrrhura picta). Subspecies pacifica and chapmani are particularly distinctive forms, but the variability in berlepschi and souancei may overlap, requiring the two to be merged.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
pacifica Chapman, 1915 - South-western Colombia and north-western Ecuador. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Choco Parakeet (Pyrrhura pacifica).
chapmani Bond & Meyer de Schauensee, 1940 - Eastern slope of central Andes of Colombia at 1600-2800 m. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Magdalena Parakeet (Pyrrhura chapmani).
melanura (Spix, 1824) - Southern Venezuela through north-western Brazil to south-eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador and north-eastern Peru.
souancei (Verreaux, J, 1858) - South-central Colombia near Macarena Mts.
berlepschi Salvadori, 1891 - Eastern slope of Andes in south-eastern Ecuador and northern Peru.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet