| Acacia tit | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Paridae |
| Genus: | Melaniparus |
| Species: | M. thruppi |
| Binomial name | |
| Melaniparus thruppi | |
 | |
| resident range [3] | |
| Synonyms | |
Parus thruppi Shelley, 1885 | |
The acacia tit (Melaniparus thruppi), also known as the Somali tit and northern grey tit, is a species of bird in the family Paridae. It is native to north eastern Africa where it occurs in dry acacia habitat.
The smallest of the grey Melaniparus tits of Africa, the acacia tit has a glossy blue-black cap, nape, throat and breast contrasting with a large buffy white patch which extends from the bill to the sides of the neck. There is a broad black band which stretches from the breast to the vent. The upperparts are grey with white panels in the wings and there is a white spot on the nape. The underparts are greyish white, broken by the black band. Legs and bill are slate grey. The females tend to have a narrower band than males. Juveniles are similar to the adults but are duller. [4] [5] It measures 11.5–12 cm (4.5–4.7 in) in length and weighs 12 g (0.42 oz). [6]
The acacia tit is found from Ethiopia and Somalia south to north eastern Tanzania. [6]
The acacia tit inhabits arid and semi arid wooded and bushed savanna, principally in acacia and stands of trees along streams or rivers, avoiding truly arid regions. It is recorded up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in Somalia. [5]
The acacia tit is found in pairs or small parties and occasionally joins mixed species foraging flocks. [5] The food consists of small invertebrates, principally wasps, beetles and caterpillars. [6] It nests in holes in trees and one nest found had been predated by a snake but otherwise the habits and ecology of this species are poorly known. [5]
The acacia tit was formerly one of the many species in the genus Parus but was moved to Melaniparus after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2013 showed that the members of the new genus formed a distinct clade. [7] [8] It forms a superspecies with the southern grey tit and probably also the miombo tit and ashy tit. [6] All of these species have been treated as conspecific with the Palearctic great tit but they are not now thought to be closely related to that species. [5]
There are two currently recognised subspecies, they are: [2] [9]
The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly classified in the genus Parus.
The azure tit is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout Russia, Central Asia, northwest China, Manchuria, and Pakistan.
The white-naped tit, sometimes called white-winged tit, is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is endemic to India where it is found in dry thorn scrub forest in two disjunct populations, in western India and southern India. Its specific name nuchalis means ‘of the nuchal, nape’.
The white-winged black tit is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is also known as the white-winged tit, dark-eyed black tit or northern black tit. The species was first described by Eduard Rüppell in 1840.
The Somali bee-eater is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Tanzania. This is a small bee-eater that prefers arid country and desert areas where it may be locally common. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern", postulating that clearing of woodland and forest is creating new suitable habitat for the bird and that its population trend may therefore be rising.
The grey-headed batis is a species of bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae, it was previously classified with the Old World flycatchers in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in eastern and central Africa.
The grey tit is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae. It is found in Lesotho and South Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.
The white-bellied tit is a species of bird in the family Paridae. It is found in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The elegant tit is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae endemic to the Philippines.
The stripe-breasted tit is a species of bird in the family Paridae. It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests.
The red-throated tit is a species of bird in the family Paridae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. Its natural habitat is dry savanna.
The miombo tit is a species of bird in the family Paridae. It is found in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The white-backed black tit, also known as the white-backed tit, is a species of bird in the family Paridae. It is found in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Its natural habitat is boreal forests.
The southern black tit or simply black tit is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae, which is native to woodland habitats in southern Africa.
The rufous-bellied tit is a species of bird in the tit family.
The grey-capped social weaver is a sparrow-like liver-colored bird, with a pale grey crown, a dark grey bill, a whitish eye-ring, horn-colored legs, with some black in the wing and a light terminal band in the tail, that builds roofed nests made of straws, breeds in colonies in thorny Acacia trees, and feeds in groups gathering grass seeds and insects. Male and female have near identical plumage. DNA-analysis confirms it is part of the weaver family. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Melaniparus is a genus of birds in the tit family. The species were formerly placed in the speciose genus Parus but were moved to Melaniparus based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2013 that showed that the members formed a distinct clade. The genus Melaniparus had originally been introduced by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850. The type species was subsequently designated as the southern black tit. The name of the genus combines the Ancient Greek melas, melanos "black" and the genus Parus introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
Carp's tit or Carp's black tit, is a species of bird in the family Paridae. Some authors consider it a subspecies of the black tit. It is found throughout the Namibian savanna woodlands and the southern Angolan mopane woodlands.
The white-shouldered black tit, also known as the pale-eyed black tit, is a passerine bird in the tit family. It breeds in a belt across Africa from Senegal in the west to Kenya and Ethiopia in the east. It is sometimes considered conspecific with the more southerly white-winged black tit Melaniparus leucomelas and, like that species, it is mainly black with a white wing patch, but differs in that it has a pale eye.
The cinnamon-breasted tit is passerine bird in the family Paridae. It is found in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is miombo woodland.
