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Kuhl's lorikeet

species of bird

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ1259444
Source-derived summary

Kuhl's lorikeet (Vini kuhlii), also called the Rimitara lorikeet, Kuhl's lory, manu 'ura (local appellation) or kura (Cook Islands), is a species of lorikeet in the family Psittaculidae. It is one of several species of Vini lorikeets found in islands ranging across the South Pacific. Nicholas Aylward Vigors named it kuhlii in 1824 after Heinrich Kuhl, a German ornithologist whose survey of the parrots Conspectus psittacorum had appeared in 1819.

Description

It is a fast flying lorikeet with vibrant plumage; a green back, wings and crown, a blue nape and legs and bright red undersides and cheeks. The average length is 19 centimetres (7.5 in) and the average weight is 55 grams (1.9 oz).

Habitat

The Kuhl's lorikeet's habitat is natural tropical moist lowland forests and plantations. Like all Vini lorikeets it is a nectarivore, and has a brushy tongue to acquire the nectar. In islands denuded of native forests and covered with extensive coconut plantations it is found exclusively in those areas. It was once present in the Cook Islands but is now restricted to islands of French Polynesia (Only found on the island of Rimatara) and has been introduced in Kiribati. It was reintroduced to Atiu, in the Cook Islands in 2007.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kuhl's lorikeet” is species of bird. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kuhl's, lorikeet and species, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1824, 1819, 2007—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Kuhl's, lorikeet and species is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “species of bird” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1259444. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1824, 1819 and 2007.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Kuhl's lorikeet”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Kuhl's lorikeet primary sources, Kuhl's lorikeet archive and Kuhl's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kuhl's lorikeet”?
  2. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Kuhl's lorikeet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.