Blyth's shrike-babbler (''Pteruthius aeralatus'') is a

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 ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

found in the eastern Himalayas and Southeast Asia from northern Burma to southern Cambodia. Like others in the genus it is found in montane forests. Males and females have different plumages and variations occur through its range with several populations being treated as subspecies. It is part of a

cryptic species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each o ...

and was earlier lumped as a subspecies of the

white-browed shrike-babbler The white-browed shrike-babbler (''Pteruthius aeralatus'') is a bird species found in the eastern Himalayas and Southeast Asia from northern Burma to southern Cambodia. Like others in the genus it is found in montane forests. Males and females ...

. Clements lumps this bird into the white-browed shrike-babbler.

Description

Blyth's shrike-babbler is sexually dimorphic. There are many variations between the populations and some are more distinctive than others but they may not be easy to diagnose in the field. In general appearance it is very similar to the

Himalayan shrike-babbler The Himalayan shrike-babbler (''Pteruthius aeralatus ripleyi'') is a bird subspecies found in the western Himalayas that belongs to the shrike-babbler group. The genus was once considered to be an aberrant Old World babbler and placed in the fa ...

but all subspecies with the exception of ''validirostris'' have the tertials of males partly coloured rufous and partly fulvous. Pteruthius aeralatus female

The common name commemorates

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 ...

(1810–1873), who published the description and notes based on

Samuel Tickell Colonel Samuel Richard Tickell (19 August 1811 – 20 April 1875) was a British army officer, artist, linguist and ornithologist in India and Burma. Biography Tickell was born at Cuttack in India to Captain Samuel Tickell (of the 8th regimen ...

's specimen. It was earlier called Tickell's shrike-Tit.

Taxonomy

The species was described by Edward Blyth who credited the name to collector Captain

. This and several other species were later lumped together as subspecies of ''Pteruthius flaviscapis''. In 2008, a molecular phylogenetic study resulted in the separation of species within the ''flaviscapis'' group with a large number split by application of the

phylogenetic species concept In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sex ...

and these were reorganized with a smaller number of species resulting in the following subspecies being included within Blyth's shrike-babbler. * The nominate form ''P. a. aeralatus '' described by Blyth in 1855 occurs in Burma and western Thailand. * ''P. a. validirostris'' described by Koelz, 1951 is found from parts of eastern Nepal to western Burma. This includes the forms ''nocrecus'' and ''glauconotus'' which were also described by Koelz (who was known for being a "splitter"). * ''P. a. ricketti'' described by Ogilvie-Grant in 1904 is found from northeastern Burma to southeast China and parts of Indochina. * ''P. a. schauenseei'' described by Deignan in 1946 is found in southern Thailand * ''P. a. cameranoi'' described by Salvadori in 1879 is found in the Malay Peninsula and on the island of Sumatra. * ''P. a. robinsoni'' described by Chasen & Kloss in 1931 is found in Borneo.

References

External links

Images of type of ''P. aeralatus validirostris

Blyth's shrike-babbler Blyth's shrike-babbler (''Pteruthius aeralatus'') is a bird species found in the eastern Himalayas and Southeast Asia from northern Burma to southern Cambodia. Like others in the genus it is found in montane forests. Males and females have differ ...

Birds of the Himalayas Birds of Northeast India Birds of South China Birds of Southeast Asia

{{Vireonidae-stub