Platycercus

Rosellas are in a genus that consists of six species and nineteen subspecies. These colourful parrots from Australia are in the genus Platycercus. Platycercus means "broad-tailed" or "flat-tailed", reflecting a feature common to the rosellas and other members of the broad-tailed parrot tribe. Their diet is mainly seeds and fruit.

==Taxonomy== The genus was described by naturalist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825; the name Platycercus derived from the Greek platykerkos meaning "broad-" or "flat-tailed", from platys "broad, wide, level, flat" and kerkos "tail of a beast". The relationships with other parrots have been unclear, with the Australian ringneck (genus Barnardius) cited as a closest relative by some, and the genus Psephotus by others; the plumage of the western rosella seen as a link to the latter genus.right|thumb|Comparison of Platycercus heads in Gould's Birds of Australia (Gould)|Synopsis (1837).|264x264pxEarly European settlers encountered the eastern rosella at Rose Hill, New South Wales, now Parramatta, and so they called it the Rosehill parrot which became "Rosehiller", and eventually "rosella". Vigors defined the genus Platycercus in 1825, based on the distinctive architecture of the feathers in the tail and wing, and designated the crimson rosella Platycercus elegans (as Platycercus pennantii) as the type species. The description as a flat or broad tail follows Heinrich Kuhl, who separated his psittacine specimens to a group with tails that were "narrow and cuneated", that is, a tapering wedged outline.