Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What is the largest parrot in New Zealand?
The kakapo is a large, rotund parrot; the adult can measure from 58 to 64cm (23 to 25in) in length, and weight can vary from 0.95 to 4kg (2 to 9lb) at maturity.[13][14] Males are larger than females. Twenty-eight males were found to average 2kg (4.4lb) in one study, and 39 males were found to average 2.06kg (4.5lb) in another. In the same studies, 28 females were found to average 1.5kg (3.3lb) and 18 females were found to average 1.28kg (2.8lb), respectively.[15][16] Kakapo are the heaviest living species of parrot and on average weigh about 400g (14oz) more than the largest flying parrot, the hyacinth macaw.[15]
The eastern ground parrot ("Pezoporus wallicus") of Australia is one of only five ground-dwelling parrots in the world, the others being its closest relatives, the western ground parrot ("Pezoporus flaviventris"), the extremely rare night parrot ("Pezoporus occidentalis"), the somewhat closely related Antipodes parakeet ("Cyanoramphus unicolor"), and the unrelated highly endangered kakapo ("Strigops habroptilus") from New Zealand.
The order Psittaciformes consists of roughly 393 species belonging to 92 genera.
Superfamily Strigopoidea: New Zealand parrots
Superfamily Cacatuoidea: cockatoos
Superfamily Psittacoidea: true parrots
The skeleton of the Rodrigues parrot had similarities with the "Tanygnathus" and "Psittacula" parrot genera. The pectoral and pelvic bones were similar in size to those of the New Zealand kaka ("Nestor meridionalis"), and it may have looked similar to the great-billed parrot ("Tanygnathus megalorynchos") in life, but with a larger head and tail. It differed from other Mascarene parrots in several skeletal features, including having nostrils that faced upwards instead of forwards. No features of the skull suggest it had a crest like the broad-billed parrot, and there is not enough fossil evidence to determine whether it had pronounced sexual dimorphism. There are intermediate specimens between the longest and shortest examples of the known skeletal elements, which indicates there were no distinct size groups.
The kakapo (Māori: kākāpō) or night parrot, also called owl parrot (Strigops habroptilus), is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the super-family Strigopoidea, endemic to New Zealand.[3]
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 393 species in 92 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoidea ("true" parrots), the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos), and the Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere, as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia.
Some parrot species prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged parakeets prey on water snails, the New Zealand kea can, though uncommonly, hunts adult sheep, and the Antipodes parakeet, another New Zealand parrot, enters the burrows of nesting grey-backed storm petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoos and the New Zealand kaka excavate branches and wood to feed on grubs; the bulk of the yellow-tailed black cockatoo's diet is made up of insects.
Clianthus, commonly known as kakabeak ("kōwhai ngutukākā" in Māori), is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, comprising two species of shrubs native to New Zealand. They have striking clusters of red flowers which resemble the beak of the kaka, a New Zealand parrot. The plants are also known as parrot's beak, parrot's bill and lobster claw – all references to the distinctive flowers. There is also a variety with white to creamy coloured flowers.
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are the 402 species of birds that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions, of which 387 are extant. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoidea ("true" parrots), the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos), and the Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia.
The New Zealand kaka (Maori: kākā) ("Nestor meridionalis") is a large species of parrot of the family Nestoridae found in native forests of New Zealand. Two subspecies are recognised. It is endangered and has disappeared from much of its former range.
The forests are home to a number of endemic species including two flightless birds that no longer survive in the lowland areas of the island, these are the western weka and the largest kiwi, the great spotted kiwi. The varied habitats in the region support a mixture of other birds found here include the kea, the New Zealand kaka parrot" (Nestor meridionalis)", the New Zealand pigeon or kereru "(Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae)" and the New Zealand falcon or karearea "(Falco novaeseelandiae)". Farewell Spit in particular is an important site for wading birds and is on a migration route. 
The area is also rich in invertebrates including almost half of the known species of amber snails "(Powelliphanta)".
Apart from the occasional bird blown in from Australia, all the parrot species naturally occurring in New Zealand are found nowhere else (endemic). There are eight surviving parrot species endemic to New Zealand.
In Scouts New Zealand, this section is called Keas. A kea is a New Zealand parrot.
New Zealand is geographically isolated, and originally lacked any mammalian predators, hence parrots evolved to fill habitats from the ground dwelling kākāpō to the alpine dwelling kea as well as a variety of forest species. The arrival of Māori, then European settlers with their attendant animals, habitat destruction and even deliberate targeting, has resulted in their numbers plummeting. Today one species is on the brink of extinction and three other species range from vulnerable to critically endangered. Further parrot species were not introduced by acclimatisation societies, but occasion releases, both deliberate and accidental, have resulted in self-sustaining populations of some Australian species.
The other major group of highly intelligent birds of the order Psittaciformes (which includes 'true' parrots, cockatoos and New Zealand parrots) is not closely related to corvids.
Alstroemeria pulchella is a South American species of flowering plant in the family Alstroemeriaceae. It is native to Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay but widely cultivated as an ornamental and escaped into the wild in Australia (New South Wales and Norfolk Island), New Zealand, Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the southeastern United States (eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida). Common names include Peruvian lily, parrot flower, parrot lily, lily of the Incas, princess lily, and New Zealand Christmas bell.
The cockatoos were first defined as a subfamily Cacatuinae within the parrot family Psittacidae by the English naturalist George Robert Gray in 1840, with "Cacatua" the first listed and type genus. This group has alternately been considered as either a full or subfamily by different authorities. The American ornithologist James Lee Peters in his 1937 "Check-list of Birds of the World", Sibley and Monroe in 1990 maintained it as a subfamily, while parrot expert Joseph Forshaw classified it as a family in 1973. Subsequent molecular studies indicate that the earliest offshoot from the original parrot ancestors were the New Zealand parrots of the superfamily Strigopoidea, and following this the cockatoos, now a well-defined group or clade, split off from the remaining parrots, which then radiated across the Southern Hemisphere and diversified into the many species of parrots, parakeets, macaws, lories, lorikeets, lovebirds and other true parrots of the superfamily Psittacoidea.
Nelepsittacus is a genus of extinct New Zealand parrots that is closely related to the genus "Nestor" (the living kaka and kea). It consists of four species, of which three have been named so far, and all are long extinct. The species are all known from the early Miocene Saint Bathans Fauna from the Lower Bannockburn Formation in Otago in New Zealand. Features in their skeletons, namely the coracoid, humerus, tibiotarsus, and tarsometatarsus, that they share only with the "Nestor" parrots link them to that genus.
The hyacinth macaw ("Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus"), or hyacinthine macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length (from the top of its head to the tip of its long pointed tail) of about 100 cm (3.3 ft) it is longer than any other species of parrot. It is the largest macaw and the largest flying parrot species, though the flightless kakapo of New Zealand can outweigh it at up to 3.5 kg. While generally easily recognized, it could be confused with the smaller Lear's macaw. Habitat loss and the trapping of wild birds for the pet trade have taken a heavy toll on their population in the wild, so the species is classified as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, and it is protected by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The fauna of New Zealand evolved for a long time in the absence of humans and other mammals. Only a few bat species and sea mammals were present prior to colonisation by humans, and the only predators were birds of prey that hunt by sight. These circumstances influenced the evolution of New Zealand's parrots, for example, the adaptations to flightlessness of the kakapo and the ground breeding of the kea. Polynesians arrived at Aotearoa between 800 and 1300 CE, and introduced the "kurī" (dog) to the islands. This was disastrous for the native fauna, because mammalian predators can locate prey by scent, and the native fauna had not evolved a defence against them.
Clianthus puniceus, common name kaka beak ("Kōwhai Ngutu-kākā" in Māori), is a species of flowering plant in the genus "Clianthus" of the legume family Fabaceae, native to New Zealand's North Island. It is an evergreen shrub, one of two species of "Clianthus", both of which have striking clusters of red flowers resembling the beak of the kākā, a New Zealand parrot. The plant is also known as parrot's beak, parrot's bill and lobster claw. There is also a variety with white to creamy coloured flowers.
The genus Nestor is the type and only extant genus of the parrot family Nestoridae. Together with the kakapo, and the extinct parrots in the genus "Nelepsittacus", they form the parrot superfamily Strigopoidea. The genus "Nestor" contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island and Chatham Island, New Zealand, respectively. All species are large stocky birds with short squarish tails. A defining characteristic of the genus is the tongue, which is tipped with a hair-like fringe. The superficial resemblance of this tongue to that of lorikeets has led some taxonomists to consider the two groups closely related, but DNA evidence shows they are not.
A cockatoo is a parrot that is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea (true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up the order Psittaciformes (parrots). The family has a mainly Australasian distribution, ranging from the Philippines and the eastern Indonesian islands of Wallacea to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia. 
Parrots are found on all tropical and subtropical continents and regions including Australia and Oceania, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central America, South America, and Africa. Some Caribbean and Pacific islands are home to endemic species. By far the greatest number of parrot species come from Australasia and South America. The lories and lorikeets range from Sulawesi and the Philippines in the north to Australia and across the Pacific as far as French Polynesia, with the greatest diversity being found in and around New Guinea. The subfamily Arinae encompasses all the neotropical parrots, including the amazons, macaws, and conures, and ranges from northern Mexico and the Bahamas to Tierra del Fuego in the southern tip of South America. The pygmy parrots, tribe Micropsittini, form a small genus restricted to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The superfamily Strigopoidea contains three living species of aberrant parrots from New Zealand. The broad-tailed parrots, subfamily Platycercinae, are restricted to Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands as far eastwards as Fiji. The true parrot superfamily, Psittacoidea, includes a range of species from Australia and New Guinea to South Asia and Africa. The centre of cockatoo biodiversity is Australia and New Guinea, although some species reach the Solomon Islands (and one formerly occurred in New Caledonia), Wallacea and the Philippines.
Several parrots inhabit the cool, temperate regions of South America and New Zealand. Three species—the Thick-billed parrot, the Green parakeet, and the now-extinct Carolina parakeet—have lived as far north as the southern United States. Many parrots have been introduced to areas with temperate climates, and have established stable populations in parts of the United States (including New York City), the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain, as well as in Greece. These birds can be quite successful in introduced areas, such as the non-native population of red-crowned amazons in the U.S. which may rival that of their native Mexico. The only parrot to inhabit alpine climates is the Kea, which is endemic to the Southern Alps mountain range on New Zealand's South Island. 
The New Zealand parrot superfamily, Strigopoidea, consists of three genera of parrots – "Nestor", "Strigops", and the fossil "Nelepsittacus". The genus "Nestor" consists of the kea, kaka, Norfolk Island kaka and Chatham Island kaka, while the genus "Strigops" contains the iconic "kakapo". All extant species are endemic to New Zealand. The species of the genus "Nelepsittacus" were endemics of the main islands, while the two extinct species of the genus "Nestor" were found at the nearby oceanic islands such as Chatham Island of New Zealand, and Norfolk Island and adjacent Phillip Island.