[6] The International Ornithological Committee (IOC), the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society, and the Clements taxonomy assign it these four subspecies:[3][7][8] The 2008 paper advocated that roseifrons and parvifrons be treated as monotypic species.

[6] BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World adopted this three-species treatment, naming them rose-fronted, Garlepp's, and wavy-breasted parakeets respectively.

Adults of the nominate subspecies P. r. roseifrons have a bright red crown and face and dirty whitish ear coverts.

The iris is orange-brown to dark brown with pale pinkish white to blackish bare skin around it.

Its throat and breast feathers are grayish with blackish wedge shapes and yellowish fringes.

P. r. dilutissima is similar to peruviana but has less blue on the forecrown, a rusty red rather than maroon face, and a grayer throat and breast with more yellow.

P. r. parvifrons resembles the nominate but has a narrow red lower forehead, a dark brown crown and nape, and a deep red-brown face.

Its diet includes fruit, seeds, flowers, and leaves of both wild and cultivated plants and trees.

An active nest was found in southeastern Peru's Manú National Park in early October.