Kalinago wren

Kalinago wren
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Troglodytidae
Genus:	Troglodytes
Species:	T. martinicensis
Binomial name
Troglodytes martinicensis (Sclater, PL, 1866)

The Kalinago wren (Troglodytes martinicensis) is a very small passerine bird in the wren family Troglodytidae that is found on the Caribbean island of Dominica. It was formerly also found on the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The name troglodytes means "hole dweller", and is a reference to the bird's tendency to disappear into crevices when hunting insects or to seek shelter. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the house wren, now renamed the northern house wren (Troglodytes aedon).

Taxonomy

The Kalinago wren was formally described in 1866 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater based on a specimen collected on the island of Martinique. He coined the binomial name Thryothorus martinicensis.^[1][2] The Kalinago wren was formerly considered as conspecific with the house wren (now the northern house wren). It is now treated as a separate species based on differences in plumage, vocalizations and genetics.^[3][4][5][6]

Three subspecies are recognised:^[3]

• T. m. guadeloupensis (Cory, 1886) – Guadeloupe (north Lesser Antilles). Possibly extinct.
• T. m. rufescens (Lawrence, 1877) – Dominica (central Lesser Antilles)
• † T. m. martinicensis (Sclater, PL, 1866) – Martinique (central Lesser Antilles). Extinct.

References

1. Sclater, Philip Lutley (1866). "Descriptions of six new species of American oscines". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 320-324 [321].
2. Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 424.
3. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, hyliotas, wrens & gnatcatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
4. Wetten, K.N. (2021). Morphological divergence in the House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) species complex: A study of island populations with a focus on the Grenada House Wren (T. a. grenadensis) (MSc thesis). University of Manitoba, SK, Canada. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
5. Klicka, J.; Epperly, K.; Smith, B.T.; Spellman, G.M.; Chaves, J.A.; Escalante, P.; Witt, C.C.; Canales-del-Castillo, R.; Zink, R.M. (2023). "Lineage diversity in a widely distributed New World passerine bird, the House Wren". Ornithology. 140 (3): ukad018. doi:10.1093/ornithology/ukad018.
6. Chesser, R.T.; Billerman, S.M.; Burns, K.J.; Cicero, C.; Dunn, J.L.; Hernández-Baños, B.E.; Jiménez, R.A.; Johnson, O.; Kratter, A.W.; Mason, N.A.; Rasmussen, P.C.; Remsen, J.V.J. (2024). "Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds". Ornithology. 141 (3): ukae019. doi:10.1093/ornithology/ukae019.