Spectacled Whitestart (Myioborus melanocephalus) [XC242853]
by Niels Krabbe from Carchi: Loma Laurel, Ecuador (song)
Spectacled Whitestart (Myioborus) [XC259501]
by Mitch Lysinger from Pichincha: Tandayapa ridge 3 km SSW Tandayapa, Ecuador (song)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Yellow-fronted Whitestart (Myioborus ornatus), and possibly also White-fronted Whitestart (Myioborus albifrons) and the three form a monophyletic clade. It has been suggested that present species and Yellow-fronted Whitestart (Myioborus ornatus) may be better regarded as conspecific, but such treatment appears not to be supported by recent study of phylogeny of genus. Seems especially close to subspecies chrysops of Yellow-fronted Whitestart (Myioborus ornatus), and several records in potential zone of range overlap (extreme south-western Colombia and adjacent north-western Ecuador) of individuals intermediate in head pattern between subspecies ruficoronatus of present species and chrysops. These were originally thought to be variants of ruficoronatus, but may be result of hybridization, or even be an undescribed subspecies of one or other species. A recent record of pair of apparently phenotypically pure chrysops from this area lends weight to hybrid theory. Within present species, rufous-capped subspecies ruficoronatus and griseonuchus formerly considered to represent a separate species. However, latter subspecies has small rufous crown patch and shares pattern of extended black on face with adjacent black-crowned subspecies malaris. Thus, griseonuchus and malaris appear to link black-crowned and rufous-crowned forms.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
ruficoronatus (Kaup, 1852) - Andes in extreme south-western Colombia and Ecuador.
griseonuchus Chapman, 1927 - Western Andes in north-western Peru.
malaris Zimmer, JT, 1949 - Central Andes in northern Peru.
melanocephalus (Tschudi, 1844) - Eastern Andes in central Peru.
bolivianus Chapman, 1919 - Andes in southern Peru and western Bolivia.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet