Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Turkestan Tit (Parus bokharensis), with which it has been treated as conspecific.
Hybridizes, very rarely, also with Coal Tit (Periparus ater) and Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), and possibly with Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris). Three groups of subspecies, traditionally recognized: "nominate section", in Palearctic (except far east), containing the green-backed, yellow-bellied subspecies (the first 12 of those listed below); "cinereus section", from south-western Asia and Indian Subcontinent east to Indochina and Indonesia, containing the grey-backed, whitish-bellied forms (the next 13 in list); and "minor section", from eastern Asia and Japanese islands, incorporating the greenish-backed, white-bellied subspecies (the final 9 in list). Recent analyses suggest that these sections should perhaps be treated as three separate species, largely isolated from one another by major landforms (e.g. Himalayas); also some differences in voice and habitat. On the other hand, a degree of intergradation and/or hybridization is evident in areas where groups meet. For example, intergrades between blanfordi and intermedius and between kapustini and minor occur. Subspecies karelini thought by some to represent intermediate population between the first two of those, and is often included within nominate, and, moreover, intermedius and commixtus are themselves sometimes considered to represent merely intergrade populations. Some intergradation also within sections (e.g. between nominate and aphrodite in southern Europe). Otherwise, within "minor group", birds from southern China (south-western Sichuan south to south-eastern Xizang, Yunnan and western Guizhou) currently included within subspecies tibetanus, but sometimes separated as subtibetanus, and kagoshimae merged with minor by some authors.
The following 37 subspecies are recognised:
newtoni Prazák, 1894 - British Is, Netherlands, Belgium and north-western France.
major Linnaeus, 1758 - Mainland Europe (Scandinavia south to northern and central Spain, central Italy and Balkans), western and south-central Siberia (east to L Baikal, south to northern and eastern Kazakhstan and Altai), Asia Minor, Caucasus and Azerbaijan (except south-east).
kapustini Portenko, 1954 - South-eastern Kazakhstan (Dzungarian Alatau), extreme north-western China (north-western Xinjiang) and north-western Mongolia east to Transbaikalia, south-eastern Russia (northern Amurland) and Sea of Okhotsk.
corsus Kleinschmidt, O, 1903 - Portugal, southern Spain and Corsica.
mallorcae von Jordans, 1913 - Balearic Is.
excelsus Buvry, 1857 - North-western Africa (Morocco east to northern Tunisia).
ecki von Jordans, 1970 - Sardinia.
aphrodite Madarász, 1901 - Southern Italy, southern Greece, Aegean Is and Cyprus.
niethammeri von Jordans, 1970 - Crete.
terraesanctae Hartert, 1910 - Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan and north-eastern Egypt.
karelini Zarudny, 1910 - South-eastern Azerbaijan and northern Iran.
blanfordi Prazák, 1894 - Northern Iraq and north-central and south-western Iran.
intermedius Zarudny, 1890 - North-eastern Iran and south-western Turkmenistan.
decolorans Koelz, 1939 - North-eastern Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
ziaratensis Whistler, 1929 - Central and southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
caschmirensis E. J. O. Hartert, 1905 - North-western Himalayas eastern from northern Pakistan. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
nipalensis Hodgson, 1837 - Northern India and Nepal east to western and central Myanmar.
vauriei Ripley, 1950 - North-eastern India (eastern Assam). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
stupae Koelz, 1939 - Western, central and south-eastern India. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
mahrattarum E. J. O. Hartert, 1905 - South-western India and Sri Lanka. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
templorum Meyer de Schauensee, 1946 - Western Thailand and southern Indochina. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
hainanus E. J. O. Hartert, 1905 - Hainan I. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
ambiguus (Raffles, 1822) - Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
sarawacensis Slater, 1885 - North-western, north-eastern and south-eastern Borneo. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
cinereus Vieillot, 1818 - Southern, south-eastern Asia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Southern Great Tit (Parus cinereus).
minor Temminck and Schlegel, 1848 - Ec, eastern Asia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
dageletensis Nagamichi Kuroda and Mori, 1920 - Dagelet I (east of southern Korea). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
kagoshimae Takatsukasa, 1919 - Southern Kyushu and Goto Is.
amamiensis O. Kleinschmidt, 1922 - Northern Ryukyu Is (Amami-oshima, Tokunoshima). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
okinawae E. J. O. Hartert, 1905 - Okinawa, in central Ryukyus. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
nigriloris Hellmayr, 1900 - Southern Ryukyus (Ishigaki, Iriomote). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
tibetanus E. J. O. Hartert, 1905 - South-western and south-central China (south-eastern and eastern Xizang, southern and eastern Qinghai and western Sichuan south to Yunnan and western Guizhou) and northern Myanmar. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
commixtus Swinhoe, 1868 - North-eastern Vietnam and south-eastern China (eastern from Yunnan, south of R Yangtze). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
nubicolus Meyer de Schauensee, 1946 - Eastern Myanmar, northern Thailand and north-western Indochina. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Eastern Great Tit (Parus minor).
bokharensis Lichtenstein, MHK, 1823 - South-central Kazakhstan, Ukbekistan, Turkmenia and extreme north-eastern Iran east to northern Afghanistan. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Turkestan Tit (Parus bokharensis).
turkestanicus Zarudny & Loudon, 1905 - South-eastern Kazakhstan east to extreme north-western China (northern Xinjiang), possibly also extreme south-western Mongolia. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Turkestan Tit (Parus bokharensis).
ferghanensis Buturlin, 1912 - Mountains in Tajikistan (Pamir, Alai) and Kyrgyzstan east to western Tien Shan. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Turkestan Tit (Parus bokharensis).
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet