The silver-throated bushtit or silver-throated tit (''Aegithalos glaucogularis'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of passerine bird in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Aegithalidae The bushtits or long-tailed tits are small passerine birds from the family (biology), family Aegithalidae, containing 13 species in three genera, all but one of which (''Psaltriparus'') are found in Eurasia. Bushtits are active birds with long t ...

, widespread throughout the

temperate forest A temperate forest is a forest found between the tropical and boreal regions, located in the temperate zone. It is the second largest terrestrial biome, covering 25% of the world's forest area, only behind the boreal forest, which covers about 3 ...

s of Central,

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and parts of

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

Western China Western China ( zh, s=中国西部, l=, labels=no or zh, s=华西, l=, labels=no) is the west of China. It consists of Southwestern China and Northwestern China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces ...

. The bird's native

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

s are mainly along the middle/lower

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

and

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

basins, although there is also a small southwestern

extension in Yunnan along the Mekong, Lancang valley within the Hengduan Mountains. It has two recognized subspecies.

History

A paper on the silver-throated bushtit by the English naturalist Frederic Moore was read at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London on 27 June 1854. The English ornithologist John Gould then included the silver-throated bushtit in his book ''The Birds of Asia'' and cited Moore's paper. Gould used Moore's Specific name (zoology), specific name but a different genus to obtain the binomial name ''Mecistura glaucogularis''. He specified the type locality (biology), type locality as Shanghai. As Gould's work appeared in print in 1855 before the publication of the proceedings of the Zoological Society, under the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Gould's publication has priority. The name ''glaucogularis'' combines the Latin ''glaucus'' "glaucous" and the Neo-Latin ''gularis'' "throated".

Taxonomy

The silver-throated bushtit was formerly considered a subspecies of the long-tailed tit (''Aegithalos caudatus'') but its plumage is distinctive and there are significant genetic differences. Two subspecies are recognized: * ''A. g. glaucogularis'' (John Gould, Gould, 1855) – the nominate subspecies, native to the middle/lower

basin in Central East China * ''A. g. vinaceus'' (Jules Verreaux, Verreaux, J, 1871) – the northern/subalpine subspecies, native to the

basin in North China with habitat extensions into western Liaoning, central Gansu, eastern Qinghai, western Sichuan and Yunnan Aegithalos glaucogularis 2

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the silver-throated bushtit
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q12252815 Aegithalos, silver-throated bushtit Birds of China Birds of Yunnan Endemic birds of China Birds described in 1855, silver-throated bushtit Taxa named by John Gould, silver-throated bushtit