They are small to medium-sized parakeets with long tails and predominantly green plumage.

Habitat loss and introduced species are considered responsible for the declines and extinctions.

[2] The genus Cyanoramphus was introduced in 1854 by French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.

[4] The type species was designated by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 as what is now the extinct black-fronted parakeet (Cyanoramphus zealandicus).

Also, subfossil remains have been found from a yet undescribed extinct species from Campbell Island, New Zealand.