Ethiopian oriole explained

The Ethiopian oriole (Oriolus monacha) is a species of bird in the family Oriolidae.

It is found in north-eastern Africa where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.

Taxonomy

The Ethiopian oriole was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus monacha.^{[1] [2]} The specific epithet monacha is from Late Latin monachus meaning "monk".^[3] Gmelin based his description on "Le Moloxita" or "La religieuse d'Abissinie" that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon in his multi-volume Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.^[4] The Ethiopian oriole is now one of 30 orioles placed in the genus Oriolus that was introduced in 1766 by Linnaeus.^[5] Other common names include dark-headed or black-headed forest oriole and Abyssinian oriole.^[6]

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized:^[5]

• O. m. meneliki Blundell and Lovat, 1899 – Originally described as a separate species. Found in southern Ethiopia
• O. m. monacha (Gmelin, 1789) – Found in northern Ethiopia, Eritrea

Notes and References

1. Book: Gmelin, Johann Friedrich . Johann Friedrich Gmelin. 1789 . Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . 13th . 1, Part 2 . Latin . Lipsiae [Leipzig] . Georg. Emanuel. Beer . 824 .
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Greenway . James C. Jr . 1962 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 15 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 132 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 258 .
4. Book: Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . 1775 . Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux . 3 . Paris . De l'Imprimerie Royale . 405–406 . Le Moloxita . French . https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k10697127/f481.item .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2023 . Orioles, drongos, fantails . IOC World Bird List Version 13.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 14 April 2023 .
6. Book: Walther . B.A. . Jones . P.J. . 2008 . Family Sittidae (Nuthatches) . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Christie . D.A. . Handbook of the Birds of the World . 13: Penduline-tits to Shrikes . Barcelona, Spain . Lynx Edicions . 978-84-96553-45-3 . 692–731 [728] . https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0013unse/page/728/mode/1up . registration .