White-shouldered black tit

The white-shouldered black tit (Melaniparus guineensis), also known as the pale-eyed black tit, is a passerine bird in the tit family. It breeds in a belt across Africa from Senegal in the west to Kenya and Ethiopia in the east. It is sometimes considered conspecific with the more southerly white-winged black tit Melaniparus leucomelas and, like that species, it is mainly black with a white wing patch, but differs in that it has a pale eye.

White-shouldered black tit
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Paridae
Genus: Melaniparus
Species:
M. guineensis
Binomial name
Melaniparus guineensis
(Shelley, 1900)
Synonyms

Parus guineensis

It is a resident in coniferous woodlands throughout its range, and nests in tree crevice. 4-6 reddish-brown blotched pinkish-white eggs are laid.

The white-shouldered black tit was formerly one of the many species in the genus Parus but was moved to Melaniparus after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2013 showed that birds in the new genus formed a distinct clade.[1][2]

References

  1. Johansson, U.S.; Ekman, J.; Bowie, R.C.K.; Halvarsson, P.; Ohlson, J.I.; Price, T.D.; Ericson, P.G.P. (2013). "A complete multilocus species phylogeny of the tits and chickadees (Aves: Paridae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 69 (3): 852–860. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.06.019. PMID 23831453.
  2. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Waxwings and their allies, tits & penduline tits". World Bird List Version 6.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  • Harrap and Quinn, Tits, Nuthatches and Treecreepers ISBN 0-7136-3964-4


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