The pale-blue monarch (''Hypothymis puella'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

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 lightweigh ...

in the family

Monarchidae The monarchs (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivorous songbirds with long tails. They inhabit forest or woodland a ...

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 elsew ...

to eastern Indonesia.

Taxonomy and systematics

The pale-blue monarch was originally described in the genus ''

Myiagra ''Myiagra'' is a genus of passerine birds in the family Monarchidae, the monarch flycatchers, native to Australasia, sometimes referred to as the broad-billed flycatchers or simply broadbills. Taxonomy The genus ''Myiagra'' was introduced in 182 ...

'' and then classified as

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the widespread

black-naped monarch The black-naped monarch or black-naped blue flycatcher (''Hypothymis azurea'') is a slim and agile passerine bird belonging to the family of monarch flycatchers found in southern and south-eastern Asia. They are sexually dimorphic, with the male ...

, ''Hypothymis azurea'', until split by the IOC in 2013 to describe a new species. Some other authourities have not yet adopted this species split. The alternate name Moluccan monarch should not be confused with the species of the same name, ''

Symposiachrus bimaculatus The Moluccan monarch (''Symposiachrus bimaculatus'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is found in Indonesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane for ...

''. Additional alternate names for the pale-blue monarch include Pacific monarch (a name shared with the

buff-bellied monarch The buff-bellied monarch (''Neolalage banksiana'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Neolalage''. It is endemic to Vanuatu, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest ...

), Pacific small monarch and small monarch.

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized: * ''H. p. puella'' - (

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

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

and adjacent islands * ''H. p. blasii'' -

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 ...

, 1898: Found in the Banggai archipelago.

Behaviour and ecology

The pale-blue monarch is a forest species which builds a small cup nest. It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a

shrike Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...

. It is

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

, often hunting by flycatching.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5408131 Hypothymis Endemic birds of Sulawesi Birds described in 1863