Parus

Eck, Siegfried, 2006, The Palaearctic Titmouse Species (Aves: Paridae: Parus sensu lato) — A current survey *, Zootaxa 1325, pp. 7-54 : 34

4. Parus [l.] davidi

Considered “morpho­geographically”, Père David’s Tit is linked to the western Palaearctic Sombre Tits by way of the Caspian Tit, Parus lugubris hyrcanus . I did not notice this at first (Eck 1976: 33), but realized it during subsequent comparison with hyrcanus (Eck 1980). In any case, the Sombre, Caspian and Père David’s Tits form an empirical grouping by descent (although paraphyletic) with the rank of a superspecies.

Parus davidi (BEREZOWSKI & BIANCHI, 1891) [S Gansu, China].

The population group: P 33 davidi ; central China. — Figs. Berezowski & Bianchi 1891: Plate II: 4; Eck 1980b: Plate II; Quinn: Plate18: 57.

* Small, intensely coloured shiny­headed tits; thick bills. — Wing length up to 71, tail length to 54 mm. — TWI: x = 74.7 % ± 2.13 (n=24).