Pachycephala Explained

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 theIndonesian and Philippine archipelagos to the west and the Pacific archipelagos to the east.[1]

Taxonomy

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

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]

Notes and References

  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 . Nicholas Aylward Vigors . 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] . 10.1111/j.1095-8339.1823.tb00098.x .
  3. Book: Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1986 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 12 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 8 .
  4. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 288 .
  5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2023 . Whiteheads, sittellas, Ploughbill, Australo-Papuan bellbirds, Shriketit, whistlers . IOC World Bird List Version 13.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 29 March 2023 .
  6. Web site: Coracornis raveni - Avibase. avibase.bsc-eoc.org. 2017-01-29.
  7. Web site: Colluricincla megarhyncha fortis - Avibase. avibase.bsc-eoc.org. 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.

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