White-throated Fiji whistler

White-throated Fiji whistler
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pachycephalidae
Genus:	Pachycephala
Species:	P. vitiensis
Binomial name
Pachycephala vitiensis Gray, GR, 1860
Synonyms
Pachycephala graeffii Pachycephala pectoralis vitiensis

The white-throated Fiji whistler (Pachycephala vitiensis) is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae, endemic to islands in southern Fiji. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the yellow-throated Fiji whistler (Pachycephala graeffii). Before the split the combined species were known as the "Fiji whistler".

Taxonomy and systematics

It was variably considered a subspecies of a widespread golden whistler (P. pectoralis).^[2][3] Three of the subspecies of the former white-throated whistler (P. v. kandavensis, lauana, and vitiensis) were lumped with the Fiji whistler in 2014 by the IOC.^[4] The Temotu whistler was formerly considered conspecific with the Fiji whistler.

Three subspecies are recognised:^[5]

• P. v. kandavensis Ramsay, EP, 1876 – Beqa (south of Viti Levu) and Kadavu Island and satellites (southwest Fiji, southwest Polynesia)
• P. v. lauana Mayr, 1932 – south Lau Islands (southeast Fiji, southwest Polynesia)
• P. v. vitiensis Gray, GR, 1860 – Gau (central Fiji, southwest Polynesia)

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "Pachycephala vitiensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T103693448A104274221. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103693448A104274221.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
2. Boles, W. E. (2007). Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis). pp. 421–423 in: del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie, D. eds (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2
3. IOC World Bird List, version 1.7
4. "IOC World Bird List 4.4". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.4.4.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Whiteheads, sittellas, Ploughbill, Australo-Papuan bellbirds, Shriketit, whistlers". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 September 2024.