White-tailed Iora
Encyclopedia
The White-tailed Iora or Marshall's Iora (Aegithina nigrolutea), is a songbird
in the genus Aegithina found in parts of India
and Sri Lanka
.
of the Common Iora Aegithina tiphia.
The diagnostic features of the species are the short wing and tail; white edging to tertials converging broadly at the tip, versus tertial tips black to only narrowly white in tiphia and a smaller and shorter bill than tiphia from any part of India. The vocalizations are also different. The species is best known from northwestern India, however only a few verified specimen records exist from southern India. It is now also known from Sri Lanka.
There are several races of the Common Iora
that may appear similar to this species:
Salim Ali
collected a specimen in the Biligirirangan Hills
which was commented upon by Hugh Whistler
:
Whistler's comments have been subsequently debated and Daniel Marien notes that the southern boundary of the species is not well understood and further notes that the Biligirirangans specimen commented upon by Whistler was identified positively by Biswamoy Biswas
as a nigrolutea.
Adult females of both species are entirely green above (except for a gray and white tail in nigrolutea) and yellow (dull in winter, brighter in spring) below. The juvenal and first-winter plumages in both sexes of both species are similar to their adult female plumages. First-year birds are best recognized by the possession of more pointed and somewhat narrower tail feathers.
Walter Koelz collected two adult specimens of the species at Salem and the distribution range of the species is believed to overlap significantly with that of A. tiphia.
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
in the genus Aegithina found in parts of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
Distribution and identification
The status of the species has been debated and has only recently been given full species status. Earlier suggestions have been that it was a clinal variantCline (population genetics)
In biology, an ecocline or simply cline describes an ecotone in which a series of biocommunities display continuous gradient...
of the Common Iora Aegithina tiphia.
The diagnostic features of the species are the short wing and tail; white edging to tertials converging broadly at the tip, versus tertial tips black to only narrowly white in tiphia and a smaller and shorter bill than tiphia from any part of India. The vocalizations are also different. The species is best known from northwestern India, however only a few verified specimen records exist from southern India. It is now also known from Sri Lanka.
There are several races of the Common Iora
Common Iora
The Common Iora is a small passerine bird found across the tropical Indian Subcontinent with populations showing plumage variations, some of which are designated as subspecies. A species found in scrub and forest, it is easily detected from its loud whistles and the bright colours...
that may appear similar to this species:
Salim Ali
Salim Ali (ornithologist)
Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Known as the "birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and his bird books helped develop ornithology...
collected a specimen in the Biligirirangan Hills
Biligirirangan Hills
The Biligiriranga Hills, commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu in South India. The area is called Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary or simply BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a protected reserve under the Wildlife...
which was commented upon by Hugh Whistler
Hugh Whistler
Hugh Whistler , F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. was an English ornithologist who worked in India. He wrote one of the first field guides to Indian birds and documented the distributions of in numerous notes in several journals apart from describing several new subspecies.-Life and career:Whistler was born in...
:
Whistler's comments have been subsequently debated and Daniel Marien notes that the southern boundary of the species is not well understood and further notes that the Biligirirangans specimen commented upon by Whistler was identified positively by Biswamoy Biswas
Biswamoy Biswas
Biswamoy Biswas was an Indian ornithologist who was born in Calcutta, the son of a professor of Geology. In 1947, he was awarded a three year fellowship by Sunderlal Hora, then director of the Zoological Survey of India...
as a nigrolutea.
Adult females of both species are entirely green above (except for a gray and white tail in nigrolutea) and yellow (dull in winter, brighter in spring) below. The juvenal and first-winter plumages in both sexes of both species are similar to their adult female plumages. First-year birds are best recognized by the possession of more pointed and somewhat narrower tail feathers.
Walter Koelz collected two adult specimens of the species at Salem and the distribution range of the species is believed to overlap significantly with that of A. tiphia.