White-throated oxylabes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Bernieridae
Genus: Oxylabes
Sharpe, 1870
Species:
O. madagascariensis
Binomial name
Oxylabes madagascariensis
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Synonyms

Hypositta perdita

The white-throated oxylabes (Oxylabes madagascariensis) is a species of passerine bird that is endemic to Madagascar. It is the only species placed in the genus Oxylabes. Formerly considered as a member of the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, it has been moved to the family Bernieridae — the Malagasy warblers.[2] Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.[1]

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the white-throated oxylabes in the third volume of his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on the island of Madagascar. He used the French name Le rossignol de Madagascar and the Latin name Luscinia madagascariensis.[3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.[4] When in 1789 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae he included the white-throated oxylabes based on Brisson's description. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla madagascariensis.[5] The white-throated oxylabes is now the only species placed in the genus Oxylabes that was introduced in 1870 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe.[6][7] The genus name is from Ancient Greek oxulabēs meaning "quick at seizing".[8] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[7]

In 2013, genetic studies determined that the Bluntschli's vanga (also known as short-toed nuthatch-vanga), a species described in 1996 from two specimens collected in 1931, was actually this species. The specimens were both juveniles in a poorly known brown plumage.[9]

Description

The white-throated oxylabes is a large warbler 17–18 cm (6.7–7.1 in) in length. It has short wings, long legs and a long stout bill. The upperparts are dark olive-brown with a rufous top and side of head. It has a narrow white supercilium and a white chin and throat. The underparts are dark brown. The sexes are alike.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2016). "Oxylabes madagascariensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22716763A94509959. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22716763A94509959.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Cibois, Alice; Slikas, Beth; Schulenberg, Thomas S.; Pasquet, Eric (2001). "An endemic radiation of Malagasy songbirds is revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequence data". Evolution. 55 (6): 1198–1206. doi:10.1554/0014-3820(2001)055[1198:AEROMS]2.0.CO;2. PMID 11475055.
  3. ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 401–402, Plate 22 Fig. 1. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
  4. ^ Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 28: 317–335. hdl:2246/678.
  5. ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 952.
  6. ^ Sharpe, R. Bowdler (1870). "Contributions to the ornithology of Madagascar". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1870: 384–401 [386].
  7. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Grassbirds, Donacobius, tetrakas, cisticolas, allies". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  8. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 387. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  9. ^ Fjeldså, Jon; Mayr, Gerald; Jønsson, Knud A.; Irestedt, Martin (2013). "On the true identity of Bluntschli's Vanga Hypositta perdita Peters, 1996, a presumed extinct species of Vangidae" (PDF). Bull. BOC. 133 (1): 72–75. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  10. ^ Bairlein, F. (2006). "Family Sylviidae (Old World Warblers)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 11: Old Word flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 492–712 [644]. ISBN 978-84-96553-06-4.


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