White-browed Shortwing is not 1 but 4 species
Monday, November 26, 2018 - 10:20
in Paleontology & Archaeology
The White-browed Shortwing (Brachypteryx montana) has been considered to be a single species distributed from the central Himalayas to the southeast Chinese mainland and the island of Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia. The mainland and Taiwan Island populations have recently been studied by an international team of researchers from Sweden, China, the UK and the USA. They analysed DNA, plumages, structure, songs and geographical distributions, and concluded that the continental and Taiwanese populations are actually three rather than one species.