Blyth's paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone affinis''), also called the oriental paradise flycatcher, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is native from southern China to Sumatra and

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

. Formerly, it was considered a subspecies of the

Asian paradise flycatcher In 2015, the Asian paradise flycatcher was split into the following three species: * Indian paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone paradisi'') * Blyth's paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone affinis'') * Amur paradise flycatcher The Amur paradise flyc ...

until elevated to species rank by the IOC in 2015.

Subspecies

Ten subspecies are recognized: * ''T. a. saturatior'' - ( Salomonsen, 1933): Breeds in the eastern parts of Nepal and northeastern India, in eastern Bangladesh and northern Myanmar; populations occurring in Malaysia migrate northward for breeding. * ''T. a. nicobarica'' - Oates, 1890: Originally described as a separate species. Found on Nicobar Islands * ''T. a. burmae'' - (Salomonsen, 1933): Found in central Myanmar * ''T. a. indochinensis'' - (Salomonsen, 1933): Found in eastern Myanmar and southern China to

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

* ''T. a. affinis'' - ( Blyth, 1846): Found on Malay Peninsula and Sumatra * ''T. a. procera'' - ( Richmond, 1903): Originally described as a separate species. Found on

Simeulue Simeulue is an island of Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra. It covers an area of 1754 square kilometres (677 square miles), including minor offshore islands. It had a population of 80,674 at the 2010 census and 92,865 at the 2020 census ...

(off north-western Sumatra) * ''T. a. insularis'' - Salvadori, 1887: Originally described as a separate species. Found on

Nias Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, ...

(off north-western Sumatra) * ''T. a. borneensis'' - (

Hartert Ernst Johann Otto Hartert (29 October 1859 – 11 November 1933) was a widely published German ornithologist. Life and career Hartert was born in Hamburg, Germany on 29 October 1859. In July 1891, he married the illustrator Claudia Bernadine E ...

, 1916): Found on

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

* ''T. a. sumbaensis'' - Meyer, AB, 1894: Originally described as a separate species. Found on Sumba (southern Lesser Sundas) The Tenggara paradise flycatcher (''T. floris''), which is found on

Sumbawa Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but th ...

, Alor,

Lembata Lembata is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands, also known as Lomblen island; it is the largest island of the Solor Archipelago, in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. It forms a separate regency of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur. The ...

and Flores (central Lesser Sundas), was formerly considered a subspecies, but has recently been reclassified as a distinct species.

Subspecies

References

Further reading