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Chatham Island Red-crowned Parakeet; Parrot; Southeast Island, Chatham Islands; OR...

Chatham Island Red-crowned Parakeet; Parrot, Southeast Island, Chatham Islands, OR.000459
FromMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Name/Title
Chatham Island Red-crowned Parakeet; Parrot
About this object
Skin of Chatham Island Red-crowned Parakeet.

See more at Te Papa's Collections Online: http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/ObjectDetails.aspx?oid=627919
Field Collector
Palmer, Henry
Field Collection Date
Sep 1890
Field Collection Place Description
Southeast Island, Chatham Islands
Object Type
Bird
Object number
OR.000459

Tags

birds
dead


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Results from DigitalNZ

This study describes the isolation and characterisation of microsatellite loci in Forbes’ parakeet (Cyanoramphus forbesi). These molecular markers are used to assess the status of interspecific hybridisation between Forbes’ parakeets and Chatham Island Red-crowned parakeets (C. novaezelandiae chathamensis) on Mangere and Little Mangere Islands in the Chatham Islands group. The evolution of these microsatellite loci in parrots is also investigated. Forbes’ parakeets are facing the problem of genetic introgression due to extensive hybridisation with Chatham Island Red-crowned parakeets. Hybrids show a spectrum of crown morphologies between the parent species (Nixon 1982), but identification of hybrids based on morphology alone is not foolproof. Mitochondrial DNA studies by Boon (2000) showed that Forbes’ parakeet is a distinct lineage, basal to all other New Zealand parakeets but several Forbes’ morphotypes have Chatham Island Redcrowned parakeet haplotype. However, mitochondrial DNA markers only probe the maternally inherited lineages and cannot tell the whole story. The microsatellite markers used in this study show that interspecific hybridisation between Forbes parakeet and Chatham Island Red-crowned parakeet is more extensive than previously expected. Microsatellite data combined with results from scoring mitochondrial DNA haplotypes show that crown morphology alone under-represents the proportion of hybrids in the population, and that a large number of cryptic hybrids (77.9%) show Forbes’ parakeet morphotypes. A three factor scoring system is suggested in which a parakeet must pass both genetic (microsatellites and mitochondrial) and morphological criteria to be considered a “pure” Forbes’ parakeet. Using this system, 17.8%, 1.2%, and 81.0% of the Mangere Island parakeet population are “pure” Forbes’ parakeets, “pure” Chatham Island Red-crowned parakeets, and interspecific hybrids respectively. The results of this study have...
Conservation Genetics and Hybridisation of the Forbes’ Parakeet (Cyanoramphus Forbesi) in the Chatham Islands
Victoria University of Wellington
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