Golden Oriole - Oriolus Kundoo

[RobinPaulEdwards]

Can anyone point me at where I can find the current taxonomy status of Oriolus oriolus kundoo - a recent split as Indian Golden Oriole from Eurasian Golden Oriole or still a sub-species?

[Xenospiza]

It was split in "the Ripley Guide" (if I'm not mistaken), but there seems to be little if no support for this. But I bet Tim Allwood should know more... I've seen him endorse these splits before!

[halftwo]

Xenospiza is right (again) here, I found one ref. to say "recently split by some authors."
Again this might become accepted one day, but most sources treat it as a sub-species.
H

[cuckooroller]

Yes, I too am waiting on this one until Ed Dickinson and his squad review this for the future Howard & Moore. I find some, if not many, of Pam Rasmussen's proposed splits to have merit, but not all of them.

[RobinPaulEdwards]

Thanks guys - I too read a report stating "a recent split from Eurasian Golden Oriole" although I can't find any evidence to back up. A split that in my book has merit.

[cuckooroller]

Thanks guys - I too read a report stating "a recent split from Eurasian Golden Oriole" although I can't find any evidence to back up. A split that in my book has merit.

RPE,
In case you don't have access to the Ripley Guide, their justification: "Does not appear to intergrade with O.oriolus, despite proximity of breeding ranges. Differences in morphology and (evidently) vocalisations are comparable or greater than those between certain other oriole species; hence kundoo treated here as a full species."

Comment (Mine): The justification requires a certain leap of faith in my judgment. Theirs are the parentheses "(evidently) vocalisations". To date not too many birds (e.g. Scytalopus) have had good fortune for being considered good species unless this is supported also by a full genetic workup in support of this. It is not specified to which other Oriole species they are referring to, and I still want to see genetic variance and bootstrap values on this bird.