Babar whistler

The Babar whistler (Pachycephala sharpei) is a passerine bird in the family Pachycephalidae that is endemic to the island of Babar which lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the yellow-throated whistler.

Babar whistler
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pachycephalidae
Genus:	Pachycephala
Species:	P. sharpei
Binomial name
Pachycephala sharpei Meyer, AB, 1884

Taxonomy

The Babar whistler was formally described in 1884 by the German naturalist Adolf Bernhard Meyer based on a specimen collected on the island of Babar in Indonesia. He coined the binomial name Pachycephala sharpei where the specific epithet was chosen to honour the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe.^[1][2][3] The Babar whistler was formerly classified as a subspecies of the yellow-throated whistler (Pachycephala macrorhyncha) but is now considered to be a separate species based on the deep genetic divergence, morphology, and distinct female plumage.^[4][5] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.^[4]