White-bellied Yuhina

About the White-bellied Yuhina

The white-bellied erpornis (Erpornis zantholeuca) or simply erpornis is a species of bird. It is the only member of the genus Erpornis. This bird is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Formerly placed in Yuhina and often still misleadingly called "white-bellied yuhina", it is the most distinct member of this "genus" in its obsolete paraphyletic delimitation. It is by no means closely related to the Timaliidae (Old World babblers), where most of the former members of Yuhina are still placed. The Timaliidae are members of the superfamily Sylvioidea in infraorder Passeri, whereas the erpornis is the closest relative of the vireos (Vireonidae), which are a more ancient lineage of songbirds. Indeed, it now is usually included in the Vireonidae as one of their few Old World representatives.

Several subspecies are recognised: E. z zantholeuca, E. z tyrannula, E. z griseiloris, E. z sordida, E. z canescens, E. z interposita, E. z saani and E. z brunnescens. In its coloration, morphology... Wikipedia →