The elegant tit (''Pardaliparus elegans'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the tit family

Paridae The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly classified in the genus ''Parus''. Members of this family are comm ...

endemic to the Philippines.

Taxonomy

The species was formerly included in the much larger

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Parus ''Parus'' is a genus of Old World birds in the tit family. It was formerly a large genus containing most of the 50 odd species in the family Paridae. The genus was split into several resurrected genera following the publication of a detailed mo ...

'' but was moved to ''

Pardaliparus ''Pardaliparus'' is a genus of birds in the tit family. The members of the genus were formerly included in '' Parus'' but were moved to ''Pardaliparus'' when ''Parus'' was split into several resurrected genera following the publication of a de ...

'' with the

yellow-bellied tit The yellow-bellied tit (''Pardaliparus venustulus'') is a bird in the family Paridae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1870. It is endemic to China. Its natural habitats are temperate forest and subtropical or tropical mois ...

and the

Palawan tit The Palawan tit (''Pardaliparus amabilis'') is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae. It is endemic to Palawan and the smaller islands of Calauit and Balabac in the Philippines. Within its range it is found in lowland forest habitats, in ...

when ''Parus'' was split into several resurrected genera following the publication of a detailed

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis in 2013.

Description

Small, sexes similar, with 9 races differing by shading and the amount and location of the white or yellow spotting in the wings and black; male top of head, throat, and upper breast glossy blue black; nape black with yellow spot; mantle black with white spots; lower back yellowish grey; tail black feathers edged white on basal 1/2 and second; primaries edged white; face, lower breast, and belly yellow. female is duller. imm resembles ad; has yellowish throat and blackish moustachial streaks. Bill black sometimes with gray at base in ad, yellowish to yellow orange with top and bottom horn in inn; eye dark brown; legs gray.

Distribution and habitat

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, ranging across most of the islands. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, disco ...

and subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucia ...

References

* BirdLife International 2004.
Parus elegans

2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Downloaded on 26 July 2007. * Gosler, A. & P. Clement (2007) "Family Paridae (Tits and Chickadees)" pp. 662-709. ''in'' del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees''. Lynx Editions. * ''A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines'' (2000). Robert S. Kennedy, Pedro C. Gonzales, Edward C. Dickinson, Hector C. Miranda, Jr., and Timothy H. Fisher {{Taxonbar, from=Q2071875 elegant tit Endemic birds of the Philippines elegant tit Taxonomy articles created by Polbot