Editing Kea (section)

==Taxonomy and naming==
The kea was [[species description|described]] by [[John Gould|ornithologist John Gould]] in 1856, from two specimens shown to him by [[Walter Mantell]], who obtained the birds in [[Murihiku]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gould |first1=John |date=1856 |title=On two new species of birds (''Nestor notabilis'' and ''Spatula variegata'') from the collection of Walter Mantell, Esq. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12860620 |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |pages=94–95}}</ref> Eight years earlier, some elderly Māori had told Mantell about the bird, and how it used to visit the coast in winter but had not been seen in recent times. Mantell subsequently investigated and obtained the birds.

The kea's Latin binomial specific [[epithet]], ''notabilis'', means 'noteworthy'.<ref>{{cite book|author = Simpson DP| title = Cassell's Latin Dictionary  | publisher = Cassell Ltd.| year = 1979|edition = 5th|location = London|pages = 883| isbn=0-304-52257-0}}</ref> The common name kea is from [[Māori language|Māori]], probably an [[List of onomatopoeias#Animal and bird names|onomatopoeic]] representation of their in-flight call – 'keee aaa'.<ref>[http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/nga-manu-birds/shortstory Ngā manu – birds], ''Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand''. Updated 1 March 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2010.</ref> In [[New Zealand English]], the word 'kea' is both singular and plural. The [[collective noun]] is a circus or conspiracy of kea. <ref>{{Cite web |title=New Zealand Birds |url=https://www.nzbirds.com/more/nounsk.html |access-date=15 February 2025}}</ref>

The [[genus]] ''Nestor'' contains four species: the [[Kākā|New Zealand kākā]] (''Nestor meridionalis''), the kea (''N. notabilis''), the extinct [[Norfolk kākā]] (''N. productus''), and the extinct [[Chatham kākā]] (''N. chathamensis''). All four are thought to stem from a "proto-kākā", dwelling in the forests of New Zealand five million years ago.<ref name="Wright">{{cite journal|title=A Multilocus Molecular Phylogeny of the Parrots (Psittaciformes): Support for a Gondwanan Origin during the Cretaceous|journal=Mol Biol Evol|year=2008|first=T.F. |last=Wright |author2=Schirtzinger E. E. |author3=Matsumoto T. |author4=Eberhard J. R. |author5=Graves G. R. |author6=Sanchez J. J. |author7=Capelli S. |author8=Muller H. |author9=Scharpegge J. |author10=Chambers G. K.  |author11=Fleischer R. C.|volume=25|issue=10|pages=2141–2156|doi= 10.1093/molbev/msn160|pmid=18653733|pmc=2727385}}</ref><ref name=Grant-Mackie>{{cite journal|last=Grant-Mackie|first=E.J. |author2=J.A. Grant-Mackie |author3=W.M. Boon |author4=G.K. Chambers|year=2003|title=Evolution of New Zealand Parrots|journal=NZ Science Teacher|volume=103}}</ref> Their closest relative is the flightless [[kākāpō]] (''Strigops habroptilus'').<ref name="Wright"/><ref name=Grant-Mackie/><ref name ="Jun98">Juniper, T., Parr, M. (1998) Parrots: A guide to parrots of the world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press ({{ISBN|0-300-07453-0}})</ref><ref name=deKloet>{{cite journal  |title=The evolution of the spindlin gene in birds: sequence analysis of an intron of the spindlin W and Z gene reveals four major divisions of the Psittaciformes |journal=Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=706–21 |date=September 2005 |pmid=16099384 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2005.03.013 |last1=De Kloet  |first1=Rolf S.  |last2=De Kloet  |first2=Siwo R.|bibcode=2005MolPE..36..706D }}</ref> Together, they form the parrot [[Taxonomic rank|superfamily]] [[Strigopoidea]], an ancient group that split off from all other [[Psittacidae]] before their radiation.<ref name="Wright"/><ref name=Grant-Mackie/><ref name=deKloet/><ref name="Schweizer">{{cite journal|title=The evolutionary diversification of parrots supports a taxon pulse model with multiple trans-oceanic dispersal events and local radiations|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|year=2009|first=M. |last=Schweizer |author2=Seehausen O |author3=Güntert M |author4=Hertwig ST|volume=54|doi= 10.1016/j.ympev.2009.08.021|pmid=19699808|issue=3|pages=984–94|s2cid=1831016 }}</ref>