The steppe grey shrike (Lanius excubitor pallidirostris) is a subspecies of songbird in the shrike family (Laniidae) native to Central Asia and parts of northern China, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Formerly considered either a species in its own right or a subspecies of the southern grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis) complex, it is now classified as a subspecies of the great grey shrike.[1]
The steppe grey shrike was described by the American ornithologist John Cassin in 1851 under the binomial name Lanius pallidirostris.[2] The generic Lanius is Latin for a "butcher" and the specific pallidirostris combines the Latin pallidus for "pale" and -rostris for "billed".[3]
It differs from the nominate subspecies of great grey shrike in being slightly longer-winged and shorter-tailed, and with more extensive white on the primaries. The pale bill from which it was described, only applies to juvenile and first-winter birds; adults have a black bill and lores similar to nominate L. e. excubitor.[4]