Pachycephala is a genus of birds native to Oceania and Southeast Asia. They are commonly known as typical whistlers. Older guidebooks may refer to them as thickheads, a literal translation of the generic name, which is derived from the Ancient Greek terms pachys "thick" + kephale "head". This lineage originated in Australo-Papua and later colonized the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagos to the west and the Pacific archipelagos to the east.[1]

Pachycephala
Adult male rufous whistler
(Pachycephala rufiventris)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pachycephalidae
Subfamily: Pachycephalinae
Genus: Pachycephala
Vigors, 1825
Type species
Muscicapa pectoralis
Latham, 1801
Synonyms
  • Alisterornis
  • Hyloterpe
  • Lewinornis
  • Muscitrea

Taxonomy edit

The genus Pachycephala that was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors with the Australian golden whistler as the type species.[2][3] The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek pakhus meaning "large" or "thick" and kephalē meaning "head".[4]

The genus contains 48 species:[5]

Former species edit

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Pachycephala:

An unidentified Pachycephala whistler was heard on May 14, 1994 at 1,000 meters ASL south of the summit of Camiguin in the Philippines, where the genus was not previously known to occur. It might have been an undescribed taxon, or simply a vagrant of a known species.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ Jønsson, K.A. et al. (2014) Evidence of taxon cycles in an Indo-Pacific passerine bird radiation (Aves: Pachycephala). Proc. R. Soc. B.
  2. ^ Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1825). "Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 14 (3): 395–517 [444]. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1823.tb00098.x.
  3. ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1986). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 8.
  4. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Whiteheads, sittellas, Ploughbill, Australo-Papuan bellbirds, Shriketit, whistlers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Coracornis raveni - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-01-29.
  7. ^ "Colluricincla megarhyncha fortis - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  8. ^ Balete, Danilo S.; Tabaranza, Blas R. Jr. & Heaney, Lawrence R. (2006) An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Camiguin Island, Philippines. Fieldiana Zool. New Series 106: 58–72.