Black wheatear

The black wheatear (Oenanthe leucura) is a wheatear, a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found in southern Spain and western North Africa.

Black wheatear
at Merzouga, Morocco
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Oenanthe
Species:
O. leucura
Binomial name
Oenanthe leucura
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)

Taxonomy

The black wheatear was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus, coined the binomial name Turdus leucurus and specified the locality as Gibraltar.[2] The specific epithet is from Ancient Greek leukouros meaning "white-tailed".[3] Gmelin based his account on the "White-tailed thrush" that had been described and illustrated in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume work A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined a specimen in the Leverian Museum in London.[4] The black wheatear is now placed in the genus Oenanthe that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot.[5]

Two subspecies are recognised:[5]

  • O. l. leucura (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – Portugal, Spain and south France
  • O. l. riggenbachi (Hartert, EJO, 1909) – northwest Africa

Description

This large 16–18 cm long wheatear. The male of this species is all black except a white rump and mainly white tail. The female is similar, but dark brown rather than black. It has a loud thrush-like song.

The similar white-crowned wheatear (Oenanthe leucopyga) also breeds in the African part of the black wheatear's range, but the black wheatear has a black inverted "T" on its white tail, whereas white-crowned has only a black centre to its tail. The black wheatear never has a white crown, but young white-crowned wheatears also lack this feature.

Behaviour
Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

It breeds on cliffs and rocky slopes in western north Africa and Iberia. It no longer breeds in southern France.[6] It is largely resident and nests in crevices in rocks laying 3-6 eggs. The food of this wheatear is mainly insects.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2018). "Oenanthe leucura". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22710259A132085979. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22710259A132085979.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. 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. 820.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Latham, John (1783). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 2, Part 1. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 49, Plate 38.
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  6. Murguii, Enrique (2020). Keller, Verena; et al. (eds.). European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. Barcelona: European Bird Census Council and Lynx Edicions. p. 762. ISBN 978-84-16728-38-1.
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