Zosterops Explained

Zosterops (meaning "eye-girdle") is a genus of passerine birds containing the typical white-eyes in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. The genus has the largest number of species in the white-eye family. They occur in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms. Typical white-eyes have a length of between . Their most characteristic feature is a conspicuous white feather ring around the eye, though some species lack it. The species in this group vary in the structural adaptations of the tongue.[1] The Zosterops [''griseotinctus''] group is an example of a "great speciator" inhabiting a vast area and showing a remarkable morphological differentiation on islands, some of which maybe as close as apart.[2]

Systematics

The genus Zosterops was introduced by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827.[3] The name combines the Ancient Greek words zōstēros "belt" or "girdle" and ōpos "eye".[4] The type species was designated as the Malagasy white-eye by René Lesson in 1828.[5] [6]

The results of a series of molecular phylogenetic studies of the Zosteropidae published between 2014 and 2018 prompted a major revision of species limits, in which 10 new genera were introduced. In the reorganisation, the English names of three of the existing genera were replaced.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Additionally, a study on Sri Lanka white-eyes (Zosterops ceylonensis) and Indian white-eyes (Zosterops palpebrosus) suggests that the Sri Lanka white-eye is the root species and the origin of all Zosterops species.[12] This raises questions upon the former theory of Southeast Asian origin.

Species

There are over 100 species in the genus. This includes three species (denoted by a dagger

† in the list below) that have become extinct since the 16th century.[11] † Marianne white-eye (Zosterops semiflavus) † White-chested white-eye (Zosterops albogularis) † Robust white-eye (Zosterops strenuus)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Tongues of the Zosteropidae (white-eyes). Moreau . R. E. . Perrins . M. . Hughes . J. T. . 1969 . Ardea. 57 . 29–47.
  2. Moyle . R. G. . Filardi . C. E. . Smith . C. E. . Diamond . J. . 2009 . Explosive Pleistocene diversification and hemispheric expansion of a "great speciator" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 106 . 6 . 1863–1868 . 10.1073/pnas.0809861105. 2644129 . 19181851. 2009PNAS..106.1863M . free .
  3. Vigors . Nicholas Aylward . Nicholas Aylward Vigors . Horsfield . Thomas . Thomas Horsfield . 1827 . Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities . Transactions of the Linnean Society of London . 15 . 1 . en, la. 170–334 [234] . 10.1111/j.1095-8339.1826.tb00115.x. The title page is dated 1826.
  4. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 414 .
  5. Book: Lesson, René P. . 1828 . René Lesson . Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Description des genres et des principales espèces d'oiseaux . 1 . French . Paris . Roret . 286 .
  6. Book: Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1986 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 12 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 290 .
  7. Cox . S.C. . Prys-Jones . R.P. . Habel . J.C. . Amakobe . B.A. . Day . J.J. . 2014 . Niche divergence promotes rapid diversification of East African sky island white-eyes (Aves: Zosteropidae) . Molecular Ecology . 23 . 16 . 4103–4118 . 10.1111/mec.12840 . 24954273 . 4255762 . free . 2014MolEc..23.4103C .
  8. Wells . D.R. . 2017 . Zosterops white-eyes in continental South-East Asia. 1: proposed refinements to the regional definition of Oriental White-eye Z. palpebrosus . Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . 137 . 2 . 100–109 . 10.25226/bboc.v137i2.2017.a12 . free .
  9. Wells . D.R. . 2017 . Zosterops white-eyes in continental South-East Asia. 2: what is Zosterops auriventer Hume? . Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . 137 . 2 . 110–117 . 10.25226/bboc.v137i2.2017.a13 . free .
  10. Lim . B.T.M. . Sadanandan . K.R. . Dingle . C. . Leung . Y.Y. . Prawiradilaga . D.M. . Irham . M. . Ashari . H. . Lee . J.G.H. . Rheindt . F.E. . 2018 . Molecular evidence suggests radical revision of species limits in the great speciator white‑eye genus Zosterops . Journal of Ornithology . 160. 1–16. 10.1007/s10336-018-1583-7 . 254162519 .
  11. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . July 2021 . Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes . IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 8 September 2021 .
  12. Wickramasinghe. Nelum. Robin. V. V.. Ramakrishnan. Uma. Reddy. Sushma. Seneviratne. Sampath S.. 2017 . Non-sister Sri Lankan white-eyes (genus Zosterops) are a result of independent colonizations. PLOS ONE . 12. 8. e0181441. 10.1371/journal.pone.0181441. 28792950. 5549887. free . 2017PLoSO..1281441W .
  13. Web site: Species Updates – IOC World Bird List. 2021-05-28. en-US.
  14. Web site: Anderson . Natali . 2022-10-21 . Newly-Described Bird Species is Endemic to Indonesian Island Sci.News . 2022-10-22 . Sci.News: Breaking Science News . en-US.

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