Varied tit

Varied tit
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Paridae
Genus: Parus
Species: P. varius
Binomial name
Parus varius
(Temminck & Schlegel, 1848)
Subspecies

8 living, 1 recently extinct; see text

Synonyms
  • Cyanistes varius
  • Poecile varius
  • Sittiparus varius

The varied tit (Parus varius; see also below) is a perching bird from the tit family, Paridae. It occurs in eastern Asia in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and locally in northeastern China (southern Liaoning) and extreme southeastern Russia (southern Kurile Islands).

Description

It is 12–14 cm long and weighs 16–18 g. The wing length is 6.0–7.8 cm. In the nominate race P. v. varius the crown, the bill, the throat, the upper breast and the nape are black. Forehead, face, and cheeks are white. Back, wings, and tail are bluish grey. Mantle, lower breast, belly and undertail coverts are chestnut coloured. From the crown to the nape runs a thin white central line. Other subspecies have a darker hue at the back and at the cheeks, P. v. owstoni has chestnut coloured cheeks and the mantle of P. v. olivaceus has an olive tone. The feet are dark grey.

Its habitat consists of open mixed forests, in particular with the Japanese Castanopsis species Castanopsis cuspidata and Japanese larch, coniferous forests with Japanese yews, sugi, and pines as well as bamboo forests at mountain slopes and in river valleys.

The varied tit eats a mixed diet consisting of seeds and insects, namely caterpillars.

Its call consists of tiny tones which sounds like tzu….tzu….tzu…

Systematics

Together with the white-fronted tit, this species was sometimes separated in the genus. Sittiparus. Alternatively, it was placed in the blue tit group Cyanistes. In recent times, these have been considered subgenera of Parus, with the varied tit being placed in Sittiparus rather than Cyanistes.

However, mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data indicates that Cyanistes is very distinct from other tits and certainly a separate genus, while Sittiparus is not a distinct genus but might be considered a subgenus of Poecile, the chickadees and relatives, if these are separated as a distinct genus (which is supported by the data and accepted by some authorities already, such as the American Ornithologists' Union).

In Poecile, this species forms part of a group of apparently rather basal species, the relationships of which are ill-defined. They also include the sombre tit, probably the white-fronted tit, and possibly the white-browed and Caspian tits (Gill et al., 2005).

A considerable number of subspecies have been described, with notable diversification on the islands south of Japan; nine are usually considered valid today, of which one has become extinct in the 20th century:

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Parus varius". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

External links

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