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The first molecular and morphological study of the insufficiently known Black-collared Lovebird Agapornis swindernianus of West and Central Africa indicates that this species is the sister taxon of all the remaining Agapornis parrots. The systematic position of the Grey-headed Lovebird A. canus could not be convincingly resolved by the sequence analysis of the cytochrome b gene, but morphological characters support earlier assumptions that this species forms a clade with the Red-faced and the Black-winged Lovebird, A. pullarius and A. taranta. The new phylogeny of Agapornis presented here suggests that the last common ancestor of lovebirds originated on the African continent, and that it was a more arboreal forest-dweller, probably with a preference for small fruit seeds. Thus, a preference to more open woodlands and a change to a more granivorous diet must have evolved after the split of the lineages leading to A. swindernianus and all the remaining lovebird species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]