Taiwan bush robin explained

The Taiwan bush robin (Tarsiger formosanus) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that is endemic to Taiwan. It was formerly considered as a subspecies of the white-browed bush robin (Tarsiger indicus).

Taxonomy

The Taiwan bush robin was formally described in 1910 by the German orthithologist Ernst Hartert based on specimens collected on behalf of Alan Owston on the mountains of central Taiwan. Hartert considered the specimens to represent a subspecies of the white-browed bush robin (Tarsiger indicus) and coined the trinomial name Tarsiger indicus formosanus.^{[1] [2]} Formosa is an alternative name for Taiwan.^[3] The Taiwan bush robin is now considered as a separate species based on a phylogenetic analysis published in 2022 as well as differences in plumage and vocalizations.^{[4] [5]} The species is monotypic: no other subspecies are recognised.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Hartert . Ernst . Ernst Hartert . 1910 . Dr. E. Hartert exhibited examples of a new subspecies of Flycatcher, which he proposed to call Tarsigner indicus formosanus, subsp. n. . Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . 25 . 32-33 .
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1964 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 10 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 49 .
3. Web site: Jobling . James A. . formosanus . The Key to Scientific Names . Cornell Lab of Ornithology . 25 November 2024 .
4. Wei . C. . Sangster . G. . Olsson . U. . Rasmussen . P.C. . Svensson . L. . Yao . C.-T. . Carey . G.J. . Leader . P.J. . Zhang . R. . Chen . G. . Song . G. . Lei . F. . Wilcove . D.S. . Alström . P. . Liu . Y. . 2022 . Cryptic species in a colorful genus: Integrative taxonomy of the bush robins (Aves, Muscicapidae, Tarsiger) suggests two overlooked species . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 175 . 107580 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107580 . free .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela C. Rasmussen . August 2024 . Chats, Old World flycatchers . IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 25 November 2024.