Touit is a genus of Neotropical parrots in the family Psittacidae.
The genus was introduced by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 with the scarlet-shouldered parrotlet (Touit huetii) as the type species.[1] The genus name is derived from the extinct Tupi language that was spoken by native people in Brazil: Tuí eté means "really little parrot".[2] In 1648 the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave used Tuiete for a small parrot in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae.[3]
The genus contains the following eight species:[4]
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touit batavicus | Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela | ||
| Touit huetii | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela | ||
| Touit costaricensis | Central America in Costa Rica and Panama | ||
| Touit dilectissimus | Blue-fronted parrotlet or red-winged parrotlet | coastal Andes to Peru | |
| Touit purpuratus | Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. | ||
| Touit melanonotus | south-eastern Brazil from Bahia to southern São Paulo | ||
| Touit surdus | eastern Brazil. | ||
| Touit stictopterus | Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru | ||