Chinese Nuthatch (Sitta villosa) [XC478755]
by Peter Boesman from Mutianyu Great Wall, Beijing, China (call)
Chinese Nuthatch (Sitta villosa) [XC268181]
by Albert Lastukhin from Mikhaylovskiy rayon, Primorskiy kray, Russian Federation (song)
Subspecies
A member of a species group that contains also Corsican Nuthatch (Sitta whiteheadi), Algerian Nuthatch (Sitta ledanti), Krueper's Nuthatch (Sitta krueperi), Yunnan Nuthatch (Sitta yunnanensis) and Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), and all sometimes thought to form a superspecies. Formerly treated as conspecific with Corsican Nuthatch (Sitta whiteheadi) and Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). A close relationship is supported by recent data on mitochondrial DNA, which indicate also a more distant relationship to Krueper's Nuthatch (Sitta krueperi) and Algerian Nuthatch (Sitta ledanti) (no Yunnan Nuthatch (Sitta yunnanensis) material was available for analysis). A nesting pair of nuthatches resembling present species and Corsican Nuthatch (Sitta whiteheadi) was found at 2000 m in Altai Mts of extreme southern Siberia (at Aktru, south of Karay) in 2006. This could represent a remarkable range extension of either species, or an as yet undescribed species, but requires verification. Geographical variation partly clinal, birds in western part of range largest and darkest below and those in eastern smallest and palest.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
bangsi Stresemann, 1929 - North-central China in north-eastern Qinghai (Daban
Shan), adjacent central and southern Gansu (eastern Qilian Shan south to northern Min Shan),
extreme northern Sichuan and, probably disjunctly, western Ningxia (Helan Shan).
villosa Verreaux, 1865 - North-eastern China in northern Hebei (southern at
least to mountains north of Beidaihe and eastern Qing Tombs), Beijing
Municipality and western Shanxi (Kelan south to Zhongtiao Shan).
corea Ogilvie-Grant, 1906 - Russian Far East (S
Ussuriland south of 45° north, and possibly southern Sakhalin), extreme northern Korea
(around Mt Paektu, in Changbai Shan, and scattered from northern Hamgyong,
Yanggang and Pyongan south to Pyongyang) and north-eastern China (southern Jilin and S
Liaoning).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet