Parus rufonuchalis

Eck, Siegfried, 2006, The Palaearctic Titmouse Species (Aves: Paridae: Parus sensu lato) — A current survey *, Zootaxa 1325, pp. 7-54 : 28

3. Parus rufonuchalis

Martens (1971) discovered in Nepal the sympatry of P. rubidiventris rubidiventris and P. rufonuchalis . The latter is considerably larger.

Parus rufonuchalis BLYTH, 1849 [“Range beyond Simla, near the snow­line”. syn.? parvirostris KEVE, 1943, Naryn/Tian Shan; blanchardi MEINERTZHAGEN, 1938, Gardez Forest/E Afghanistan].

The population group: P 22 rufonuchalis ; Tian Shan to W Himalayas. — Map 701 in Cheng (1987) shows the distribution in China incorrectly. — Figs. Martens & Eck 1995: Plate2: a; Quinn: Plate20: 61a–b.

* Rust­coloured nape spot, black on throat much extended, to breast. — Whereas P. rubidiventris beavani has maximally 75 mm wing and 52 mm tail length ( Ali & Ripley 1973, 9: 183), in 39 P. rufonuchalis I found maxima of 79 mm for wings and 58 mm for the tail. Assuming that the sexes were determined correctly, the investigated material exhibited such large variation per sex as to raise doubts about whether rufonuchalis is uniform over the entire area. The wing lengths: 26 ♂♂ 69.5–79 mm, x = 75.2 mm ± 2.81!; 11 ΨΨ 72.5–79 mm!, x = 74.5 mm ± 1.74. — TWI (n=39): 66.7–75.7 %, x = 71.8 % ± 1.88.