Chestnut-tailed starling

Chestnut-tailed starling
Sturnia m. malabarica on Red silk cotton flower in Mangaon, Maharashtra, India
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Suborder: Passeri
Infraorder: Muscicapoidea
Family: Sturnidae
Genus: Sturnia
Species: S. malabarica
Binomial name
Sturnia malabarica
(Gmelin, 1789)
     approximate range
Synonyms

Temenuchus malabaricus

The chestnut-tailed starling or grey-headed myna (Sturnia malabarica[2][3]) is a member of the starling family of perching birds. It is a resident or partially migratory species found in wooded habitats in India and Southeast Asia. The species name is after the distribution of a former subspecies in the Malabar region. This resident population has a white head and is often treated as a full species, the Malabar starling (Sturnia blythii).

Taxonomy and distribution

The lack of monophyly in the earlier starling genera has led to this species being placed variously under genus Sturnia, Sturnus and Temenuchus in the past (Zuccon et al., 2006) and studies have suggested the reuse of an old name Temenuchus for members of this clade.[3] Later studies have suggested placement in the genus Sturnia.[2]

There are two subspecies of the chestnut-tailed starling:

Both the nominate subspecies and nemoricola are known to perform some poorly understood movements (e.g. S. m. malabarica has been recorded from Pakistan and in central and southern India).

The taxon blythii is now usually (e.g. Rasmussen & Anderton, 2005) considered a valid species, the Malabar white-headed starling or white-headed myna (Sturnia blythii), instead of a subspecies of Sturnia malabarica. As S. m. malabarica only visits the range of blythii during the non-breeding period (winter), the two are not known to interbreed. However a molecular study found the genetic divergence between S. malabarica blythii not significantly greater (between 0.2% and 0.8%) than between the sisters S. malabarica malabarica of northern India and S. malabarica nemoricola of Burma and Vietnam.[2]

Description

An adult on twig

The adults have a total length of approximately 20 cm (7.9 in). They have grey upperparts and blackish remiges, but the colour of the remaining plumage depends on the subspecies. In the nominate subspecies and blythii, the underparts (incl. undertail) are rufous, but in nemoricola the underparts are whitish tinged rufous, especially on the flanks and crissum (the undertail coverts surrounding the cloaca). The nominate and nemoricola have a light grey head with whitish streaking (especially on crown and collar region). Both subspecies have white irides and a yellow bill with a pale blue base. The sexes are similar, but juveniles have whitish underparts and just chestnut tips to the tail feathers.

Behaviour

The chestnut-tailed starling's nest is typically found in open woodland and cultivation. The chestnut-tailed starling builds a nest in hole. The normal clutch is 3-5 eggs.

Like most starlings, the chestnut-tailed starling is fairly omnivorous, eating fruit, nectar and insects. They fly in tight flocks and often rapidly change directions with great synchrony.

Subspecies blythii from Cotigao National Park, Goa, India

Notes

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2004). "Sturnus malabaricus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2006. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 12 May 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 Zuccon, D., Pasquet, E. & Ericson, P. G. P. (2008). Phylogenetic relationships among Palearctic–Oriental starlings and mynas (genera Sturnus and Acridotheres : Sturnidae). Zoologica Scripta, 37:469–481 PDF
  3. 1 2 Lovette, I.; McCleery, B.; Talaba, A. & Rubenstein, D. (2008). "A complete species-level molecular phylogeny for the "Eurasian" starlings (Sturnidae: Sturnus, Acridotheres, and allies): Recent diversification in a highly social and dispersive avian group." (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution. 47 (1): 251–260. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.020. PMID 18321732. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2009.

References

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