Tag Archives: Sarawak

A new species of oriole – Ventriloquial Oriole (Oriolus consobrinus Ramsay)

The Dark-throated Oriole (Oriolus xanthonotus Horsfield) was thought to include four subspecies inhabiting parts of Southeast Asia including some islands of Indonesia as well as the island of Palawan north of Borneo; however, according to a recent study, it is now known that some of the populations are not closely related to each other at all.

Birds from northern Borneo and Palawan are more closely related to the Philippine oriole species and therefore should be treated as a distinct taxon for which the name Ventriloquial Oriole (Oriolus consobrinus Ramsay) has been suggested.

The new species is superficially identical to the Dark-throated Oriole but is somewhat smaller and can be distinguished by its song. [1]

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Dark-throated Oriole, nominate form

Photo: bejamynweil
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/benjamynweil
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Ventriloquial Oriole (Oriolus consobrinus ssp. persuanus (Bangs)), subspecies endemic to Palawan

Photo: Forest Botial-Jarvis
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/tiluchi
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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References:

[1] Frank E. Rheindt; Meng Yue Wu; Nyanasengeran Movin; Knud A. Jønsson: Cryptic species-level diversity in Dark-throated Oriole Oriolus xanthonotus. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142(2): 254-267. 2022

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edited:

20.07.2023

A new species of bulbul – Creme-eyed Bulbul

This species has only just been described – Creme-eyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus pseudosimplex Shakya et al.); it is one of the many cryptic species that have been previously overlooked. 

The species appears to be more closely related to the Gray-fronted Bulbul (Pycnonotus cinereifrons(Tweeddale)) from the island of Palawan, Philippines than to the White-eyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus simplexLesson) with which it shares its habitat on the Indonesian island of Borneo and which it closely resembles. [1] 

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Creme-eyed Bulbul

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References:

[1] Subir B. Shakya, Haw Chuan Lim, Robert G. Moyle, Mustafa Abdul Rahman, Maklarin Lakim, Frederick H. Sheldon: A cryptic new species of bulbul from Borneo. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 139(1): 46-55. 2019

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bearbeitet: 20.07.2023