Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) [XC332811]
by Peter Boesman from Tham Jia Substation, Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Suratthani Province, Thailand (song)
Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) [XC35656]
by Frank Lambert from Cuc Phuong, Vietnam (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Aethopyga, and often treated as conspecific. Geographical variation sometimes well marked. Some distinctive subspecies, e.g. seheriae and magnifica, perhaps merit separation at species level. Conversely, poorly differentiated heliogona may be better synonymized with nominate. Also labecula with seheriae, and these two intergrade in northern West Bengal and Bhutan. Nominate subspecies intergrades with trangensis on western coast of Malay Peninsula. Many additional subspecies described, all considered insufficiently distinct to warrant recognition: thus, off western Sumatra, tinoptila (from Pulo Siumat, near Simeulue I), heliophiletica (Pulo Bangkaru, in Banyak Is), niasensis (Nias I), melanetra (Pulo Lasia), siberu (Siberut I) and photina (North Pagai I) are included in nominate, as also is ochropyrrha (Pulo Rittan, in Anamba Is); mussooriensis (Mussoorie, northern India), miles (Nepal), andersoni (Sawaddy, east of Bhamo, in northern Myanmar) and viridicauda (Tengyueh, in Yunnan, in southern China) all subsumed in seheriae; terglanei (Bangladesh) included in labecula, and heliotis (Domel I, in Mergui Archipelago) synonymized with cara; and marinduquensis (Barrio Canat, Boac, Marinduque), formerly erroneously treated as a subspecies of Purple-throated Sunbird (Leptocoma sperata), is merged with magnifica. In addition, there may be a further undescribed subspecies in Bangladesh.
The following 15 subspecies are recognised:
seheriae (Tickell, 1833) - Himalayan foothills in India from western Himachal Pradesh (Kangra) east to Sikkim and Bhutan, south to northern West Bengal, eastern Bihar, eastern Madhya Pradesh and Orissa (possibly northern Andhra Pradesh), and western Bangladesh.
labecula (Horsfield, 1840) - Bhutan, north-eastern India (northern West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur) and Bangladesh south to Chittagong Hills, east to Myanmar (except south), southern China (southern Yunnan), north-western Laos and north-western Vietnam.
cara Hume, 1874 - Southern Myanmar and Thailand.
nicobarica Hume, 1873 - Southern Nicobar Is (Great and Little Nicobars, Kondal I, Meroe I).
tonkinensis Hartert, 1917 - North-eastern Vietnam and southern China (south-eastern Yunnan east to western Guangdong).
owstoni Rothschild, 1910 - Naozhou I (south-western Guangdong), in southern China.
mangini Delacour & Jabouille, 1924 - South-eastern Thailand and central and southern Indochina.
insularis Delacour & Jabouille, 1928 - Phu Quoc I, off southern Cambodia.
trangensis Meyer de Schauensee, 1946 - Southern Thailand and northern Malay Peninsula.
siparaja (Raffles, 1822) - Malay Peninsula (south of Narathiwat), Anamba Is (east of Peninsular Malaysia), Sumatra (except Aceh) and satellite islands, and Borneo and associated small islands (except Natunas).
natunae Chasen, 1935 - Natuna Is.
heliogona Oberholser, 1923 - Java.
magnifica Sharpe, 1876 - West-central Philippine Is (Marinduque, Tablas, Sibuyan, Panay, Negros, Cebu). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Magnificent Sunbird (Aethopyga magnifica).
flavostriata (Wallace, 1865) - Northern Sulawesi.
beccarii Salvadori, 1875 - Central, southern and south-eastern Sulawesi, Kabaena, Muna and Butung.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet