| Tenerife Goldcrest | ||||||||||||||||
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| Regulus regulus teneriffae Seebohm, 1883 |
The Tenerife Goldcrest Regulus regulus teneriffae (sometimes considered a separate species, R. teneriffae) is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family, closely resembling the Goldcrest but with a broader black band across the forehead, slightly darker underparts and a longer bill. It breeds in the eastern Canary Islands of Tenerife and La Gomera, where it is a non-migratory resident. It prefers Canary Island Pine forests, but also occurs in laurisilva forests. The populations on La Palma and El Hierro, previously thought to belong to this taxon, are now recognized as a distinct (sub)species, the Western Canary Islands Goldcrest R. (r.) ellenthalerae (Päckert et al., 2006), which evolved apparently from independent colonizations of the islands.
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Regulus teneriffae. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Päckert, Martin; Dietzen, Christian; Martens, Jochen; Wink, Michael & Kvist, Laura: Radiation of Atlantic goldcrests Regulus regulus spp.: evidence of a new taxon from the Canary Islands. Journal of Avian Biology 37(4): 364-380. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1111/j.2006.0908-8857.03533.x HTML abstract Electronic Appendices
