Sultan Tit
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| Melanochlora sultanea (Hodgson, 1837) |
The Sultan Tit, Melanochlora sultanea, is a large (approximately 20.5cm long) songbird with a yellow crest, dark bill, black upperparts plumage and yellow underparts. The sexes are similar. The female has greenish black upperparts and yellowish throat. The young bird is duller than the adult and has a shorter crest.
It is the only member of the monotypic genus Melanochlora, which is fairly distinct from the remaining titmice and only closer to the equally monotypic Sylviparus (Gill et al., 2005). Indeed, these two birds are so distinct, judging from mtDNA cytochrome b sequences, that they might not properly belong to the Paridae if the penduline tits are not placed therein too.[2][3]
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[edit] Description
The male has the forehead and crown with the crest brilliant yellow; the whole upper plumage, sides of the head and neck, chin, throat, and breast deep black, the edges of the feathers of the upper plumage with a metallic lustre, and the outermost tail-feathers tipped with white; lower plumage from the breast downwards deep yellow, the thighs barred or mottled with white.
The female has the yellow parts duller; the upper plumage and sides of the head dark greenish brown; the chin and throat yellowish brown; wings and tail dull black; the feathers of the upper plumage edged with metallic green.
The young resemble the female, but in the youngest stage the bright edges to the plumage of the upper parts are absent, and the greater wing-coverts are tipped with white.
The bill is black; the mouth dark fleshy; the eyelids plumbeous; the iris dark brown; the legs plumbeous; the claws dark horn. The length is about 8 inches; the tail measures 3.8 inches; the wing 4.4 inches; the tarsus 0.95 inches; the bill from the gape 0.75 inches.[4]
[edit] Distribution
The Sultan Tit is distributed in rainforests of Southeast Asia from Bangladesh, India, China, Nepal, Indochina to Sumatra, Indonesia. One subspecies of the Sultan Tit, Melanochlora sultanea gayeti of Laos and Vietnam, is distinguished by having a black crest on both the male and the female.
In India, this species occurs in the lower ranges of the Himalayas from Nepal to the head of the Assam valley,the Khasi hills, Cachar, Manipur, the Kakhyen hills east of Bhamo, Arrakan, the Pegu hills, Karennee, and Tenasserim. This species does not appear to be found above 4000 feet of elevation. It extends down the Malay peninsula. It frequents the larger trees in small flocks.[4]
Widespread throughout its large range, the Sultan Tit is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
[edit] References
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). Melanochlora sultanea. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 1 November 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ^ Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): Determining biogeographical patterns of dispersal and diversification in oscine passerine birds in Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa. J. Biogeogr. 33(7): 1155–1165. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01507.x (HTML abstract)
- ^ 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 HTML abstract
- ^ a b Oates, E. W. (1889) Fauna of British India. Birds. Volume 1.
- Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 9788496553422
