Swinhoe's white-eye

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Swinhoe's white-eye
Resting Zosterops japonicus.jpg
In Hong Kong
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Zosteropidae
Genus: Zosterops
Species:
Z. simplex
Binomial name
Zosterops simplex
R. Swinhoe, 1861

Swinhoe's white-eye (Zosterops simplex) is a bird species in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. It is found in east China, Taiwan, north Vietnam, the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. Populations have also been introduced throughout Southern California.

Taxonomy

Swinhoe's white-eye was formally described in 1861 by the English naturalist Robert Swinhoe and given the binomial name Zosterops simplex. [1] The genus Zosterops had been introduced by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827. [2] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek words zōstēros meaning "belt" or "girdle" and ōpos meaning "eye". The specific epithet simplex is Latin meaning "simple" or "plain". [3]

This species was formerly treated as a subspecies group of the Japanese white-eye (Zosterops japonicus) but based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018, it was promoted to species rank. [4] [5]

Five subspecies are recognised: [5]

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References

  1. Swinhoe, Robert (1861). "Notes on ornithology taken between Takoo and Peking, in the neighbourhood of the Peiho River, Province of Chelee, North China, from August to December, 1860". Ibis: 323–345 [331].
  2. Vigors, Nicholas Aylward; Horsfield, Thomas (1827). "Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London (in English and Latin). 15 (1): 170–334 [234]. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1826.tb00115.x. The title page is dated 1826.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  414, 356. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Lim, B.T.M.; Sadanandan, K.R.; Dingle, C.; Leung, Y.Y.; Prawiradilaga, D.M.; Irham, M.; Ashari, H.; Lee, J.G.H.; Rheindt, F.E. (2018). "Molecular evidence suggests radical revision of species limits in the great speciator white‑eye genus Zosterops". Journal of Ornithology. 160: 1–16. doi:10.1007/s10336-018-1583-7.
  5. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes". IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 14 October 2022.