White-tailed Iora

The status of the species has been debated, and has only since 2003 returned to widespread acceptance at its original rank as a full species. Earlier suggestions have been that it was a clinal variant of the common iora Aegithina tiphia. The diagnostic features of the species are the short wing and tail; white edging to tertials converging broadly at the tip, versus tertial tips black to only narrowly white in A. tiphia and a smaller and shorter bill than A. tiphia from any part of India. The vocalizations are also different. The species is best known from northwestern India, however a few verified specimen records exist from southern India. It is now also known from Sri Lanka. There are some races of the common iora that may appear similar to this species:

Specimens showing nigrolutea characters collected within the range of Aegithina tiphia may be variants of the latter; such specimens have been obtained from southern Bihar, West Bengal, Khandesh, Tamil Nadu and Mysore. Two adult specimens collected from Gwalior are intermediate between Aegithina tiphia humei and Aegithina nigrolutea and one specimen from Ceylon is intermediate between the latter and Aegithina tiphia multicolor. The status of Aegithina nigrolutea as a distinct species is not settled. …