Fire-breasted Flowerpecker (Dicaeum ignipectus) [XC455129]
by Peter Boesman from Sattal, Nainital, Uttarakhand, Taiwan (call)
Fire-breasted Flowerpecker (Dicaeum ignipectus) [XC56523]
by Desmond Allen from Imugan, Nueva Vizcaya Province, Luzon, Vietnam (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Black-sided Flowerpecker (Dicaeum monticolum), Grey-sided Flowerpecker (Dicaeum celebicum), Blood-breasted Flowerpecker (Dicaeum sanguinolentum) and Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) and all sometimes treated as conspecific. Has hybridized with Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum) in south-eastern China (Fujian). Some subspecies, e.g. beccarii, distinctive and possibly approaching species level, but linked to other subspecies through intermediate forms. Subspecies formosum somewhat variable, not well differentiated from nominate and possibly better merged with it.
Other proposed subspecies are pulchellum (described from Lushai Hills, in Assam) and cyanonotum (from Ichang, in Hubei, China), both subsumed in nominate, and vanheysti (from Brastagi, in northern Sumatra), merged with beccarii; umbratile (from Kao Kuap, in south-eastern Thailand) is a synonym of cambodianum. Birds on Panay (Mt Madja-as), in Philippines, apparently belong to an as yet undescribed subspecies.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
ignipectus (Blyth, 1843) - Himalayas from Kashmir eastern to
north-eastern India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam south to Mizo Hills), south-eastern Bangladesh,
and southern and south-eastern China (southern Shaanxi south to south-eastern Xizang, Yunnan, Hainan,
Guangdong and Fujian) south to Myanmar, northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam (except
central Annam and Cochinchina) and eastern Cambodia (Phumi Dak area).
formosum Ogilvie-Grant, 1912 - Taiwan.
dolichorhynchum Deignan, 1938 - Malay Peninsula.
cambodianum Delacour & Jabouille, 1928 - South-eastern Thailand
and Cambodia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Cambodian Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cambodianum).
beccarii Robinson & Kloss, 1916 - North to west-central Sumatra. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Sumatran Flowerpecker (Dicaeum beccarii).
luzoniense Ogilvie-Grant, 1894 - Northern and central Luzon (N
Philippines). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Fire-throated Flowerpecker (Dicaeum luzoniense).