Sombre tit

Sombre tit
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paridae
Genus:	Poecile
Species:	P. lugubris
Binomial name
Poecile lugubris Temminck, 1820
Synonyms
Parus lugubris

The sombre tit (Poecile lugubris) is a member of the tit family found in southeast Europe and southwest Asia.

Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

Though it is traditionally placed in Parus, mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data suggest that that genus should be split, as already adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union, for example. This species is part of the chickadee group, which would then make up the genus Poecile. In Poecile, this species forms part of a group of apparently rather basal species, the relationships of which are ill-defined. They also include the varied and probably the white-fronted tit (which were sometimes separated in Sittiparus), and possibly the white-browed and Caspian tits.^[2]

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Parus lugubris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. Gill, Frank B.; Slikas, Beth & Sheldon, Frederick H. (2005): Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene. Auk 122: 121-143. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122[0121:POTPIS]2.0.CO;2