White-throated Fiji whistler

The white-throated Fiji whistler (Pachycephala vitiensis) is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae, endemic to islands in southern Fiji. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the yellow-throated Fiji whistler (Pachycephala graeffii). Before the split the combined species were known as the "Fiji whistler".

White-throated Fiji whistler
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pachycephalidae
Genus:	Pachycephala
Species:	P. vitiensis
Binomial name
Pachycephala vitiensis Gray, GR, 1860
Synonyms
Pachycephala graeffii Pachycephala pectoralis vitiensis

Taxonomy and systematics

It was variably considered a subspecies of a widespread golden whistler (P. pectoralis).^[2][3] Three of the subspecies of the former white-throated whistler (P. v. kandavensis, lauana, and vitiensis) were lumped with the Fiji whistler in 2014 by the IOC.^[4] The Temotu whistler was formerly considered conspecific with the Fiji whistler.

Three subspecies are recognised:^[5]

• P. v. kandavensis Ramsay, EP, 1876 – Beqa (south of Viti Levu) and Kadavu Island and satellites (southwest Fiji, southwest Polynesia)
• P. v. lauana Mayr, 1932 – south Lau Islands (southeast Fiji, southwest Polynesia)
• P. v. vitiensis Gray, GR, 1860 – Gau (central Fiji, southwest Polynesia)