Black-browed bushtit

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Black-browed bushtit
Acredula bonvaloti - Annales des sciences naturelles (1891) (18017149158) (cropped) 2.jpg
Lithograph based on a drawing by Émile Oustalet, 1892
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Aegithalidae
Genus: Aegithalos
Species:
A. bonvaloti
Binomial name
Aegithalos bonvaloti
(Oustalet, 1892)
Aegithalos bonvaloti distribution map.png

The black-browed bushtit or black-browed tit (Aegithalos bonvaloti) is a species of bird in the family Aegithalidae. It is found in mid-southern China and sporadically in Myanmar. Its natural habitats are boreal forests and temperate forests. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the rufous-fronted tit (A. iouschistos) of the central and eastern Himalayas but is now often regarded as a separate species. Sometimes the subspecies A. b. sharpei (Burmese tit) of western Burma is also treated as a species.

Contents

Taxonomy

The black-browed bushtit was formally described and illustrated in 1892 by the French zoologist Émile Oustalet based on a specimen collected by the French explorer, Gabriel Bonvalot, and his companions near Kangding in the province of Sichuan of southwest China. Oustalet coined the binomial name Acredula bonvaloti. [2] [3] The black-browed bushtit is now one of nine species placed in the genus Aegithalos that was introduced in 1804 by the French naturalist Johann Hermann. [4] The genus name was a term used by Aristotle for three European tits: the long-tailed tit, the great tit, and the Eurasian blue tit. [5] The specific epithet bonvaloti was chosen to honour the collector. [6] This species was formerly considered as conspecific with the rufous-fronted bushtit (Aegithalos iouschistos). [3]

Three subspecies are recognised: [4]

The subspecies A. b. sharpei has sometimes been treated as a separate species, the Burmese bushtit. [4]

Description

It is a small, long-tailed bird, 11–12 centimetres (4.3–4.7 in) long. It has grey upperparts, rufous breast and flanks and a white belly. The head is buff with a broad black mask, white forehead and a white bib, speckled black in the centre. The subspecies A. b. sharpei has white rather than buff on the head, a dark breastband and a buff belly.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International. (2024). "Aegithalos bonvaloti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2024: e.T22736055A264196896. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22736055A264196896.en . Retrieved 19 February 2025.
  2. ↑ Oustalet, Émile (1891). "Contributions à la faune de la Chine et du Tibet". Annales des sciences naturelles. Zoologie. 7th series (in French). 12 (published 1892): 271-318 286, Plate 9 fig. 1. Dickinson, E.C.; Overstreet, L.K.; Dowsett, R.J.; Bruce, M.D. (2011). Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers. Northampton, UK: Aves Press. p. 172. ISBN   978-0-9568611-1-5.
  3. 1 2 Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1986). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 58.
  4. 1 2 3 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Bushtits, leaf warblers, reed warblers". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  5. ↑ Jobling, James A. "Aegithalos". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  6. ↑ Jobling, James A. "bonvaloti". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 6 March 2025.


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