Cactus Parakeet

SCI Name:  Eupsittula cactorum
Protonym:  Psittacus cactorum NovaActaAcad.Caes.Leop.Carol. 10 p.82
Taxonomy:  Psittaciformes / Psittacidae / Eupsittula
Taxonomy Code:  cacpar1
Type Locality:  Brazil: Cory suggests Bahia for the type locality; Hellmayr states that the specimens in Wied''s collection upon which Kuhl''s name is based came from Vareda, Rio Pardo and near Os Possoes in southeastern Bahia.
Author:  Kuhl
Publish Year:  1820
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

EUPSITTULA
(Psittacidae; Ϯ Orange-fronted Parakeet E. canicularis) Gr. ευ eu  fine; Mod. L. psittula  little parrot  < dim. Gr. ψιττακη psittakē  parrot; "Eupsittula petzii, Bp. ...  Simillima Psittac. aureæ, Gm. ...  sed minor, rostro valde robustiore, albido; orbitis magis denudatis: remigibus, rectricibusque cyanescentibus.  Le genre Eupsittula est établi par nous pour les petites Perruches à gros bec et à orbites dénudées, de l'Amérique" (Bonaparte 1853); "Eupsittula Bonaparte, Comp. Rend. Ac. Sci., Paris, XXXVII, 1853, p. 807  (Type [by monotypy; by subs. desig. (G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 87)] Psittacus petzii Leib. = P. canicularis Linn.)." (Cory, 1918, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. II (1), p. 61).    
Var. Eupsittacula.
Synon. Eupsittaca.

cactorum
Mod. L. cactorum   cactus-, of the cacti  < Botanical genus Cactus  Linnaeus, 1753, cactus  < L. cactus  prickly plant  < Gr. κακτος kaktos  spiny plant, identification uncertain.

SUBSPECIES

Cactus Parakeet (caixana)
SCI Name: Eupsittula cactorum caixana
caixana
● Caixana, an indigenous people of upper Amazonia, north-western Brazil (Laurent Raty in litt.) (syn. Coccycua minuta).
● Rio da Caixa, Bahia, north-eastern Brazil (Björn Bergenholtz in litt.) (subsp. Eupsittula cactorum).
Von Spix 1824, the author of both of these names, gave no etymology. Laurent highlights von Spix's classical background, believes that the name is a noun in apposition, and, in both cases despite their disjunct ranges, refers to the Caixana people. However, since the parrot seems not to occur within the territories of the Caixana, I believe that Björn's suggestion is a more reasonable assumption. Another interesting alternative derives from the Portuguese name, caixa, for a box, the parrot being named from a clipped cage-bird (the provenance of which is unknown, but which may have been transported from elsewhere in Brazil).

Cactus Parakeet (cactorum)
SCI Name: Eupsittula cactorum cactorum
cactorum
Mod. L. cactorum   cactus-, of the cacti  < Botanical genus Cactus  Linnaeus, 1753, cactus  < L. cactus  prickly plant  < Gr. κακτος kaktos  spiny plant, identification uncertain.