Malaita monarch explained

The Malaita monarch (Symposiachrus malaitae) is a species of passerine bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands archipelago. It was formerly treated as conspecific with the Solomons monarch (Symposiachrus barbatus).

Taxonomy

The Malaita monarch was formally described in 1931 by the American ornithologist Ernst Mayr based on specimens collected on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands archipelago. He considered the specimens to be from a subspecies of the Solomons Monarch and coined the trinomial name Monarcha barbata malaitae.^{[1] [2]} The Malaita monarch is now placed in the genus Symposiachrus and is treated as a separate species from the Solomons monarch based on the differences in plumage and genetics.^{[3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . 1931 . Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. 17, The birds of Malaita Island (British Solomon Islands) . American Museum Novitates . 504 . 23 .
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Cottrell . G. William . 1986 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 11 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 512 .
3. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela C. Rasmussen . August 2024 . Monarchs . IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 19 September 2024 .
4. Andersen . M.J. . Hosner . P.A. . Filardi . C.E. . Moyle . R.G. . 2015 . Phylogeny of the monarch flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly and novel relationships within a major Australo-Pacific radiation . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 83 . 118-136 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2014.11.010.