Birds of the World

New Caledonian Lorikeet Vini diadema Scientific name definitions

Nigel Collar and Christopher J. Sharpe
Version: 1.1 — Published August 18, 2021

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Field Identification

19 cm. Only known from females, which are green with orange bill and legs, blue crown and yellow face; vague bluish tinge to lower thighs; red vent and base of lateral tail feathers, yellow underside of tail.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

New Caledonia. Only known locality is Mt Ignambi (an individual collected in 1911 (1) ); since then, a few unconfirmed reports exist.

Habitat

Forest, including by report the rainforest-open Melaleuca woodland ecotone, also scrubland and perhaps cloud forest.

Movement

No information.

Diet and Foraging

No information.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Vocalizations unknown.

Breeding

No information.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in New Caledonia EBA. The species is known from two specimens collected prior to 1860, reports published in 1913, and local albeit tenuous evidence from then until 1976 (2, 3). Considered Endangered until 2000 BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Charmosyna diadema. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 16/04/2015. when searches failed to locate surviving birds; not found during five months of surveys in 1998, including 30 days on Mt Ignambi and other peaks (3). Any existing population must be fewer than 50 individuals BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Charmosyna diadema. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 16/04/2015. . There is no convincing explanation for the species’ rarity nor of its apparent disappearance. Thought by some to be extinct (4), its continued survival cannot be discounted (3). Cloud forest on Mt Panié, Mt Humboldt and the Massif de Kouakoué have been suggested as places worth searching for survivors.

Distribution of the New Caledonian Lorikeet - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the New Caledonian Lorikeet

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. J. Sharpe (2021). New Caledonian Lorikeet (Vini diadema), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.neclor1.01.1
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