Rosy Starling

About the Rosy Starling

The rosy starling (Pastor roseus), also known as the rose-coloured starling, is a passerine bird in the starling family Sturnidae. The species was restored to its own monotypic genus Pastor in 2008, formerly being included in a wide interpretation of the genus Sturnus. This split is supported by further studies, with its closest relative now thought to be the wattled starling (Creatophora cinerea) of tropical Africa, with these two then closest to a large group of Asian starlings and mynas.

The rosy starling was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus roseus. Linnaeus gave the type locality as Lapland and Switzerland. It is now the only species placed in the genus Pastor that was introduced by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1815. The species is monotypic, with no subspecies being recognised. The genus name and the old English name come from the Latin pastor meaning "shepherd", and by extension a pastor. The specific roseus is Latin for "rose-coloured".

The adult rosy starling is... Wikipedia →