Asian thrush

Asian thrushes
White's thrush (Zoothera aurea)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Turdidae
Genus: Zoothera
Vigors, 1832
Species

21, see text

The Asian thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Zoothera of the thrush family, Turdidae.

Taxonomy

The genus Zoothera was introduced in 1832 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors to accommodate a newly described species, Zoothera monticol, the long-billed thrush, which therefore becomes the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek zōon meaning "animal" with -thēra meaning "hunter".

Two New World species traditionally regarded as Zoothera (varied thrush and Aztec thrush) actually belong elsewhere in the thrush family. A group containing Siberian thrush and the African species is not closely related to the other Zoothera and are now assigned to the genus Geokichla.

Species

The genus contains the following 22 species:

ImageCommon nameScientific name
Long-tailed thrushZoothera dixoni
Alpine thrushZoothera mollissima
Himalayan thrushZoothera salimalii
Sichuan thrushZoothera griseiceps
Long-billed thrushZoothera monticola
GeomaliaZoothera heinrichi
Dark-sided thrushZoothera marginata
Everett's thrushZoothera everetti
Sunda thrushZoothera andromedae
White's thrushZoothera aurea
Scaly thrushZoothera dauma
Nilgiri thrushZoothera neilgherriensis
Sri Lanka thrushZoothera imbricata
Amami thrushZoothera major
† Bonin thrushZoothera terrestris - extinct (c. 1830s)
Guadalcanal thrushZoothera turipavae
Makira thrushZoothera margaretae
Russet-tailed thrushZoothera heinei
Fawn-breasted thrushZoothera machiki
Bassian thrushZoothera lunulata
Bougainville thrushZoothera atrigena (split from Zoothera talaseae)
New Britain thrushZoothera talaseae

Traditional Zoothera species belonging elsewhere in family

Geokichla thrushes

References

  1. ↑ Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1832). "Zoothera". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 172.
  2. ↑ Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 144.
  3. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 414. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Thrushes". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 March 2025.

Further reading