Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla grandis) [XC176437]
by Ross Gallardy from West Daejeon, South Korea (call)
Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla grandis) [XC490127]
by Stuart Fisher from Honshu (near Kyoto), Kyoto, Japan (call, song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Thought to form a superspecies with White Wagtail (Motacilla alba), White-browed Wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis), African Pied Wagtail (Motacilla aguimp) and Mekong Wagtail (Motacilla samveasnae). However, recent analyses of mitochondrial DNA, suggests that it is possibly more distantly related to this group, and may be a sister-taxon to a group containing White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) (with race lugens), Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava), Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) and Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea).