Charminetta, Iredale, 1956

Smith, Brian Tilston, Thom, Gregory & Joseph, Leo, 2024, Revised Evolutionary And Taxonomic Synthesis For Parrots (Order: Psittaciformes) Guided By Phylogenomic Analysis, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2024 (468), pp. 1-87 : 69

Charminetta , Hypocharmosyna , Charmosynopsis , Synorhacma , and Charmosyna

Charmosyna was split into five additional genera to reflect phylogenetic relationships ( Joseph et al., 2020). For simplicity, we will first discuss each of these newly circumscribed or reinstated genera ( Charminetta , Hypocharmosyna , Charmosynopsis , and Synorhacma ) and the current membership of Charmosyna followed by a section on Vini and Charmosynoides . The largest species in this clade are Charmosyna papou and C. stellae , but most taxa in this clade are small bodied with long tails.

Charminetta comprises one New Guinean species, C. wilhelminae . It is a very small lorikeet with distinctive red underwings and rump and a blue hindcrown, presumably a plesiomorphic trait in lorikeets similar to the maroon belly plumage of Arini .

Hypocharmosyna comprises two very similar species with sexually dichromatic elongated ear-covert feathers (blue in males, yellow in females) and red flanks or sides of the underparts. They occur on New Guinea and satellite islands.

Charmosynopsis comprises two phenotypically disparate species, C. pulchella of New Guinea, largely red below and green above; and the other, C. toxopei , of Buru in Maluku, Indonesia, almost entirely green but for its blue frond and forecrown.

Synorhacma of New Guinea although generally green shows yellow striations on its underparts, a patterning that is most unusual among all parrots, and uniquely in lorikeets, a bicolored bill.

Charmosyna , which formerly was a large paraphyletic assemblage, now comprises just three New Guinean species that are largely red below and green above with blue hindcrowns posteriorly edged with black. Two of the species, C. stellae and C. papou , have extraordinarily long central tail feathers. The third species, C. josefinae , resembles the other two but with nonelongated central tail feathers.

The phylogenetic pattern of elevational preference is interesting in that there have been multiple colonizations of the highlands and lowlands, where the number and directionality of the transition would be dependent on the ancestral state that is assigned. The sister to all remaining taxa in clade 2 was the smallest lorikeet Charminetta wilhelminae , which is a monotypic genus of the New Guinea highlands with no recognized geographic variation. There are then four subclades that reflect transitions between elevations. Hypocharmosyna ( H. rubronotata and H. placentis ) occur in the lowlands of New Guinea and surrounding islands. The widely distributed Hypocharmosyna placentis has deep phylogeographic structure that includes both mainland and insular forms ( Smith et al., 2020; Joseph et al., 2020). More detailed populational-level sampling would be required to fully understand the evolutionary history of this taxon. Vini and Charmosynoides primarily occur in lower elevation habitats, but it is worth noting that montane conditions can be present at low elevations on Pacific islands (e.g., see V. palmarum in Gaua Island, Vanuatu; Andersen et al., 2017). Charmosynopsis toxopei occurs on Buru Island from 600–1000 m ( Forshaw and Knight, 2010), Indonesia, and Charmosynopsis pulchella is another endemic species of the New Guinea highlands. Monotypic Synorhacma containing only S. multistriata occurs on the southern slopes of the central range in western New Guinea, occurring up to 1800 m ( Forshaw and Knight, 2010).

Charmosyna sensu stricto now contains three species that occur in the highlands of New Guinea. Charmosyna papou and C. stellae have distinctly elongated central tail feathers and were taxonomically recognized as two species prior to molecular evidence. The phylogenomic data affirms the placement of subspecies within these species ( Smith et al., 2020; Joseph et al., 2020): wahnesi and goliathina (UFBS <70%) was placed within C. stellae , and papou was rendered monotypic. The Charmosyna radiation was dated from 5.2 Mya (1.1–8.6; fig. 14).