Long-billed bernieria

"Bernieria" redirects here. For the plant genus, see Beilschmiedia.

Long-billed bernieria
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Bernieridae
Genus: Bernieria
Pucheran, 1855
Species:
B. madagascariensis
Binomial name
Bernieria madagascariensis
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Synonyms

Phyllastrephus madagascariensis

The long-billed bernieria (Bernieria madagascariensis), formerly known as long-billed greenbul and sometimes as common tetraka or long-billed tetraka, is a songbird species endemic to Madagascar. It is the only species placed in the genus Bernieria. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the long-billed bernieria in the third volume of his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on the island of Madagascar. He used the French name Le grand figuier de Madagascar and the Latin name Ficedula Madagascariensis Major.[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.[3] When in 1789 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae he included the long-billed bernieria based on Brisson's description. He placed it with the flycatchers in the genus Muscicapa and coined the binomial name Muscicapa madagascariensis.[4] The long-billed bernieria is now the only species placed in the genus Bernieria that was erected in 1855 by the French zoologist Jacques Pucheran.[5][6] The genus name honours the French surgeon-naturalist Chevalier J. A. Bernier who resided in Madagascar from 1831 to 1834.[7]

Two subspecies are recognised.[6]

  • B. m. madagascariensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – east Madagascar
  • B. m. incelebris Bangs & Peters, JL, 1926 – north, west Madagascar

It was initially considered a greenbul, and later with the Old World warblers. Recent research indicates it is part of the endemic Malagasy radiation Bernieridae (Malagasy warblers). Its presumed relatives are not as closely related as was once believed and have been restored to the old genus Xanthomixis.[8]

Description

The long-billed bernieria is a slender species with an overall length of 17.5–20 cm (6.9–7.9 in). The top of the head, the upperparts and the tail are brownish green, the underparts are mainly yellow. The bill is long and thin; the upper mandible has a small terminal hook.[9]

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Bernieria madagascariensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22712985A94356775. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22712985A94356775.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 482–484, Plate 24 Fig. 5. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
  3. ^ Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 28: 317–335. hdl:2246/678.
  4. ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 940.
  5. ^ Pucheran, Jacques (1855). "Mémoire sur les types peu connus des passeraux dentirostres de la collection du Musée de Paris". Archives du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle (in French). 7: 321–380 [369].
  6. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Grassbirds, Donacobius, tetrakas, cisticolas, allies". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  7. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. ^ Cibois, Alice; Slikas, Beth; Shulenberg, Thomas S.; Pasquet, Eric (2001). "An endemic radiation of Malagasy songbirds is revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequence data". Evolution. 55 (6): 1198–1206. doi:10.1554/0014-3820(2001)055[1198:AEROMS]2.0.CO;2. PMID 11475055.
  9. ^ Fishpool, L.D.C.; Tobias, J.A. (2005). "Family Pycnonotidae (Bulbuls)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D.A. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 10: Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 124–250 [248–249]. ISBN 978-84-87334-72-6.