Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus ruficollis) [XC620597]
by Thet Zaw Naing from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China (song)
Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus ruficollis) [XC655451]
by Ray Tsu \u8bf8\u4ec1 from Lower Mandala road, Arrunachal Pradesh, India (call)
Subspecies
Pomatorhinus ruficollis (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler (Pomatorhinus ruficollis) and Taiwan Scimitar-babbler (Pomatorhinus musicus) following Collar (2006).
Closely related to Taiwan Scimitar-babbler (Pomatorhinus musicus) and formerly treated as conspecific. In central Laos (Nam Theun watershed), population of scimitar-babblers exhibits signs of intergradation between present species (subspecies beaulieui) and White-browed Scimitar-babbler (Pomatorhinus schisticeps), such that attribution to one species or the other has proved problematic, hence triggering opinion that the two species may be conspecific; in Himalayas and upper Myanmar, however, the two occur alongside one another and behave as separate species. Further research is required. Birds in south-central China (south-eastern Sichuan south to northern Guangxi and western Hunan) formerly treated as subspecies intermedius, but latter name invalid, as preoccupied and has been replaced by new name hunanensis. Nominate subspecies intergrades with godwini in eastern Nepal. Contrary to some recent opinions, styani appears to be a valid subspecies, although considerable intermediacy among subspecies suggests much clinal variation.
Other named subspecies are bhamoensis (from Bhamo area, in north-eastern Myanmar), synonymized with similis, and usheri (central Sichuan, in south-central China), synonymized with eidos.
The following 15 subspecies are recognised:
ruficollis Hodgson, 1836 - Northern India (eastern Uttaranchal Pradesh) east to east-central Nepal.
godwini Kinnear, 1944 - East-central Nepal east to north-eastern India (Arunachal Pradesh) and adjacent southern China (south-eastern Xizang).
bakeri Harington, 1914 - North-eastern Indian hill states (south of R Brahmaputra), south-eastern Bangladesh and western Myanmar.
similis Rothschild, 1926 - Northern Myanmar and southern China (north-western and western Yunnan east to south-western Sichuan).
styani Seebohm, 1884 - Eastern China (southern Gansu and northern and north-eastern Sichuan east to southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang).
eidos Bangs, 1930 - South-central China (central Sichuan and adjacent extreme north-eastern Yunnan).
laurentei La Touche, 1921 - Kunming area of central Yunnan (south-central China).
albipectus La Touche, 1923 - South-central China (south-western Yunnan) and extreme northern Laos.
beaulieui Delacour & Greenway, 1940 - Northern and central Laos.
reconditus Bangs & Phillips, JC, 1914 - Southern China (south-eastern Yunnan, south-western Guangxi) and northern Vietnam (Tonkin, northern Annam).
hunanensis Cheng, 1974 - South-eastern China (south-eastern Sichuan and Guizhou east to western Hunan and northern Guangxi).
stridulus Swinhoe, 1861 - South-eastern China (eastern Hunan and Guangdong east to southern Zhejiang and Fujian).