New species of hanging-parrot

The Philippine Hanging-parrot Loriculus philippensis comprises several races distributed over the Philippine archipelago. In the past, the birds on Camiguin Island have been attributed to the subspecies L p apicalis. However, recent study of a series of 23 museum specimens from Camiguin Island, collected already in the 1960s, has revealed that the Camiguin birds are significantly larger than nearby populations of L philippensis and that they, unlike all other Loriculus taxa, do not show sexual dimorphism in plumage coloration. The Camiguin population has therefore been described as a new species, Camiguin Hanging-parrot Loriculus camiguinensis (Tello, J G, Degner, J F D, Bates, J M & Willard, D E 2006. A new species of hanging-parrot (Aves: Psittacidae: Loriculus) from Camiguin Island, Philippines. Fieldiana (Zoology) NS 106: 49-57). A photograph of the new species can be viewed at www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/311.php.
The current population size of Camiguin Hanging-parrot is not known but considering the small size of the island and the extensive deforestation that has occurred, it is argued that the status of the new species needs to be assessed urgently. ANDRÉ J VAN LOON