| White-shouldered starling | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Sturnidae |
| Genus: | Sturnia |
| Species: | S. sinensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Sturnia sinensis (Gmelin, JF, 1788) | |
| Synonyms | |
Sturnus sinensis | |
The white-shouldered starling (Sturnia sinensis) is a species of bird in the starling family Sturnidae. It breeds in southern China and northern Vietnam; it winters in Southeast Asia.
The white-shouldered starling was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae . He placed it with the orioles in the genus Oriolus and coined the binomial name Oriolus sinensis. [2] The specific epithet sinensis is Modern Latin for "Chinese". [3] Gmelin based his description on "Le Kink" from China that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath the Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. [4] A hand-coloured engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet was published to accompany Buffon's text. [5]
The white-shouldered starling was formerly placed in the genus Sturnus . A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2008 found the genus was polyphyletic. [6] In the reoganization to create monotypic genera, the white-shouldered starling was one of five starlings moved to the resurrected genus Sturnia that had been introduced in 1837 by René Lesson. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [7]
The white-shouldered starling has blue eyes, a grey bill, and a white patch on the shoulder. The adult male has a light brown head and breast and a white belly while an adult female is darker brown on the back and belly. This bird is usually found in large flocks. [8]
The bird can be found in Asian countries including Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. [9] Common names for the white-shouldered starling are gray-backed myna, Chinese myna, Chinese starling, and Mandarin myna. [9]
The conservation status of the white-shouldered starling is that of "Least Concern". [10]
 | This Sturnidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
