The black-chinned whistler (''Pachycephala mentalis'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family Pachycephalidae,

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Ha ...

and adjacent smaller islands in

North Maluku North Maluku ( id, Maluku Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the sout ...

in Indonesia.

Taxonomy and systematics

It is variably considered a subspecies of the Australian golden whistler or treated as a separate species, but strong published evidence in favour of either treatment is limited, and further study is warranted to resolve the complex taxonomic situation.Boles, W. E. (2007). Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis). pp. 421-423 in: del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie, D. eds (2007). '' Handbook of the Birds of the World''. Volume 12: ''Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees.'' Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized: * ''P. m. tidorensis'' – van Bemmel, 1939: Found on

Tidore Tidore ( id, Kota Tidore Kepulauan, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island ...

and

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

islands * ''P. m. mentalis'' –

Wallace Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name ...

, 1863: Found on Bacan,

and Morotai islands * ''P. m. obiensis'' – Salvadori, 1878: Originally described as a separate species. Found on

Obi Islands The Obi Islands (also known as Ombirah, Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Obi'') are a group of 42 islands in the Indonesian province of North Maluku, north of Buru and Ceram, and south of Halmahera. With a total area of 3,048.08 km2, they had a pop ...

(

Obi #REDIRECT Obi {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous title ...

and Bisa)

Description

The black-chinned whistler is the northernmost member of the golden whistler group, being bordered to the south by the

yellow-throated whistler The yellow-throated whistler (''Pachycephala macrorhyncha'') or Banda Sea whistler, is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae. It is endemic to central and south-eastern Wallacea, where it ranges from Timor east to the Tanimbars and nor ...

. The black-chinned whistler is relatively large, and males are white-throated, have an incomplete black chest-band (only distinct in the center of the chest; does not connect to the black head) and a small black chin (lacking in Obi Islands).

References

black-chinned whistler The black-chinned whistler (''Pachycephala mentalis'') is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae, endemic to Halmahera and adjacent smaller islands in North Maluku in Indonesia. Taxonomy and systematics It is variably considered a subsp ...

Birds of the Maluku Islands

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