White-crowned shama
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = White-crowned shama
| image = White-crowned Shama 0A2A2226.jpg
| image_caption = In Sabah, Malaysia
| genus = Copsychus
| species = stricklandii
| authority = Motley & Dillwyn, 1855
}}
The white-crowned shama (Copsychus stricklandii) is a medium sized passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.{{cite book |title=Phillipps' Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo |author1=Phillipps, Quentin |author2=Phillipps, Karen |year=2011 |publisher=John Beaufoy Publishing |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-1-906780-56-2 }} The Maratua shama was formerly treated as a subspecies.
Taxonomy
It is closely related to the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus), and has in the past been sometimes considered a subspecies of that species.{{cite web |url= http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=32266 |title=White-rumped Shama |access-date=15 November 2013 |work=Species factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International |year=2013 }} The Maratua shama was formerly treated as a subspecies but is now treated as a separate species based on the differences in morphology and mitochondrial DNA sequences.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Chats, Old World flycatchers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/chats/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=14 November 2024}}{{Cite journal | last1=Chua | first1=V. | last2=Phillipps | first2=Q. | last3=Lim | first3=H. | last4=Taylor | first4=S. | last5=Gawin | first5=D. | last6=Abdul Rahman | first6=M. | last7=Moyle | first7=R. | last8=Sheldon | first8=F. | date=2015 | title=Phylogeography of three endemic birds of Maratua Island, a potential archive of Bornean biogeography | journal=The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology | volume=63 | pages=259-269 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278027880 }} The white-crowned shama is now monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The specific name was bestowed in honour of Hugh Edwin Strickland{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265885498_Three_Men_and_a_Bird_-_Motley_Dillwyn_Stickland_and_Copsychus_stricklandii_-_and_an_Introduction_to_Bornean_Nature_for_Alfred_Russel_Wallace|title=Three Men and a Bird|work= Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.86, Part 1, pp.113-119 (June 2013)}}
Description
The white-crowned shama is about {{convert|21|–|28|cm|abbr=on}} in length (including a {{convert|7|cm|abbr=on}} tail in adult males) and {{convert|31|–|42|g|abbr=on}} in weight. Mainly blue-black upperparts contrast with orange-rufous underparts. It has a white rump and black throat. It is largely similar in appearance to the white-rumped shama subspecies C. m. suavis, which replaces it in southern and western Borneo, and hybridises with it where the ranges meet.{{cite web |url=http://www.hbw.com/species/white-rumped-shama-copsychus-malabaricus |title=White-rumped Shama |access-date=2013-11-15 |work= HBW Alive|publisher=Lynx Editions }} It differs in having a white, rather than black, crown. The distinctive Maratua form C. s. barbouri is about 20% longer than the nominate, and has an all-black tail, rather than white outer rectrices.
Aviculture
White-crowned shamas are bred by local aviculturists in Borneo as cage-birds valued for their singing ability. They continue to be trapped as it is believed that wild-caught young birds are stronger, and better songsters, than those bred in captivity.
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:Endemic birds of Borneo