White-browed tit

The white-browed tit (Poecile superciliosus, formerly Parus superciliosus) is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae. It is endemic to the mountain forests of central China and Tibet.

White-browed tit

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Paridae
Genus: Poecile
Species:
P. superciliosus
Binomial name
Poecile superciliosus
Przewalski, 1876

It is 13.5–14 cm long, with a weight of 10–12 g. The plumage pattern is very similar to that of the western North American mountain chickadee P. gambeli (of which it has on occasion been considered a subspecies, despite its being on a different continent), differing in the breast and cheeks being rusty brown, not white, and having a longer and more sharply defined white eyebrow; the back is also a richer brown, not greyish-brown (del Hoyo et al. 2007).

It breeds in alpine shrub forests of Berberis, Rhamnus, Rhododendron, and Salix at 3,200–4,235 m altitude, descending in winter to slightly lower levels where it occurs in coniferous forests, primarily Picea. It nests on the ground in rock crevices or old rodent burrows (del Hoyo et al. 2007).

Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the white-browed tit is sister to the sombre tit (Poecile lugubris).[2][3]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Parus superciliosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Johansson, Ulf S.; Ekman, Jan; Bowie, Rauri C. K.; Halvarsson, Peter; Ohlson, Jan I.; Price, Trevor D.; Ericson, Per G. P. (2013). "A complete multilocus species phylogeny of the tits and chickadees (Aves: Paridae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 69 (3): 852–860. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.06.019.
  3. Tritsch, Christian; Martens, Jochen; Sun, Yue-Hua; Heim, Wieland; Strutzenberger, Patrick; Päckert, Martin (2017). "Improved sampling at the subspecies level solves a taxonomic dilemma – A case study of two enigmatic Chinese tit species (Aves, Passeriformes, Paridae, Poecile)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 107: 538–550. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.014.
  • 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. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.