Cacatua

Cacatua is a genus of cockatoos found from the Philippines and Wallacea east to the Solomon Islands and south to Australia. They have a primarily white plumage (in some species tinged pinkish or yellow), an expressive crest, and a black (subgenus Cacatua) or pale (subgenus Licmetis) bill. Today, several species from this genus are considered threatened due to a combination of habitat loss and capture for the wild bird trade, with the blue-eyed cockatoo, Moluccan cockatoo, and umbrella cockatoo considered vulnerable, and the red-vented cockatoo and yellow-crested cockatoo considered critically endangered.

Cacatua
Cacatua galerita
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Cacatuidae
Subfamily:	Cacatuinae
Genus:	Cacatua Vieillot, 1817
Type species
Cacatua galerita Latham, 1790
Species
11, see text

Cacatoa sp - MHNT

The genus was first described by Brisson in 1790, with the white cockatoo (C. alba) subsequently designated as the type species. Georges Cuvier defined the genus Kakatoe in 1800, with the red-vented cockatoo (C. haematuropygia) as the type, and some older bird books use the latter name. Mayr, Keast and Serventy validated Cacatua in 1964, and dismissed Kakatoe.[1]

Species

Subgenus	Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
Cacatua - true white cockatoos		Yellow-crested (or lesser sulphur-crested) cockatoo,	Cacatua (Cacatua) sulphurea	East Timor and Indonesia's islands of Sulawesi and the Lesser Sundas
		Sulphur-crested cockatoo	Cacatua (Cacatua) galerita	Australia, and New Guinea and some of the islands of Indonesia
		Blue-eyed cockatoo	Cacatua (Cacatua) ophthalmica	New Britain in Papua New Guinea
		White (or umbrella) cockatoo	Cacatua (Cacatua) alba	Halmahera, Bacan, Ternate, Tidore, Kasiruta and Mandioli (Bacan group) in North Maluku, Indonesia
		Salmon-crested (or Moluccan) cockatoo	Cacatua (Cacatua) moluccensis	Seram archipelago in eastern Indonesia
Licmetis - corellas		Long-billed corella	Cacatua (Licmetis) tenuirostris	Australia
		Western corella	Cacatua (Licmetis) pastinator	South-western Australia
		Little corella	Cacatua (Licmetis) sanguinea	Australia and southern New Guinea
		Tanimbar corella (or Goffin's cockatoo)	Cacatua (Licmetis) goffiniana	Yamdena, Larat and Selaru, all islands in the Tanimbar Islands archipelago in Indonesia
		Solomons cockatoo (or Ducorps's cockatoo)	Cacatua (Licmetis) ducorpsii	Solomon Islands archipelago
		Red-vented (or Philippine) cockatoo	Cacatua (Licmetis) haematuropygia	Philippines

References

1. Mayr EW, Keast A, Serventy DL (1964). "The name Cacatua Brisson, 1760 (Aves): Proposed validation under the Plenary Powers Z.N. (S.) 1647". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 21: 372–74.

• Juniper, T., & M. Parr (1998). A Guide to the Parrots of the World. Pica Press, East Sussex. ISBN 1-873403-40-2