| White-throated Whistler | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
|
Not recognized (IUCN 3.1)
|
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Pachycephalidae |
| Genus: | Pachycephala |
| Species: | P. vitiensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Pachycephala vitiensis Gray, 1860 |
|
The White-throated Whistler (Pachycephala vitiensis) is a species of bird in the Pachycephalidae family, which is endemic to Fiji (Kadavu, Gau and the southern Lau Islands) and the Solomons (northern and central Santa Cruz Islands). It is variably considered a subspecies of a widespread P. pectoralis or treated as a separate species, but strong published evidence in favour of either treatment is limited, and further study is warranted to resolve the complex taxonomic situation.[1] Furthermore, P. vitiensis often includes P. graeffii as a subspecies, in which case the "combined" species is known as the Fiji Whistler (a name restricted to P. graeffii when split from P. vitiensis).[2] While males of P. graeffii are yellow-throated, males of P. vitiensis are white-throated.[1] It has been speculated that these two groups are the result of separate waves of colonisations, with the yellow-throated being the result of an early colonisation, and the white-throated the result of a secondary colonisation.[1]