Sula Hanging Parrot

The Sula hanging parrot (Loriculus sclateri) is a small species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to forest and nearby habitats on the Banggai and Sula Islands in Indonesia. The Sula hanging parrot has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of the Moluccan hanging parrot, but the two are increasingly treated as separate species based on their distinct differences in plumage and size (14 cm for the Sula hanging parrot versus 11 cm for the Moluccan hanging parrot). When recognized as separate species, the Sula hanging parrot has often been treated as monotypic, but the subspecies L. s. ruber from the Banggai Islands has recently been re-validated, leaving the nominate for the Sula Islands. Both subspecies have an overall green plumage with red to the chin, rump and leading edge of the wing. In L. s. sclateri the mantle varies from all mustard-orange to red broadly edged by orange, while the mantle of L. s. ruber is red with very little orange edge. Furthermore, the red rump is brighter in L. s. ruber than in L. s. sclateri.