Blyth's paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone affinis''), also called the oriental paradise flycatcher, is a species of bird 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 ...

. It is native from southern China to

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

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 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 ...

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 The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian s ...

* ''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 The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

and Sumatra * ''T. a. procera'' - (

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, 1903): Originally described as a separate species. Found on Simeulue (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 eas ...

* ''T. a. sumbaensis'' - Meyer, AB, 1894: Originally described as a separate species. Found on

Sumba Sumba ( id, Pulau Sumba) is an island in eastern Indonesia. It is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of , and the population was 779,049 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as a ...

(southern

Lesser Sundas The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up ...

) The

Tenggara paradise flycatcher Tenggara paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone floris'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is native to Sumbawa, Alor, Lomblen and Flores islands in the Lesser Sundas. Formerly, it was considered a subspecies of the Blyth's paradis ...

(''T. floris''), which is found on Sumbawa, Alor, Lembata and

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

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

Subspecies

References

Further reading