Parus

Eck, Siegfried, 2006, The Palaearctic Titmouse Species (Aves: Paridae: Parus sensu lato) — A current survey *, Zootaxa 1325, pp. 7-54 : 20-21

3. Parus [m.] cinereus

The eponymous P. cinereus cinereus VIEILLOT, 1818 [ Batavia] and other island forms have not yet been compared with the populations on the Asian continent, regarding conspecificity according to multiple criteria. As presented by Hartert (1923: 38, footnote), Parus major commixtus SWINHOE, 1868 [Tingchow Mts., Fokien] can refer only to hybrids in the contact zone between P. minor and P. cinereus , which has not recently been closely examined. In the west P. c i n e re u s encounters P. m a j o r. Is “ Parus bocharensis var. intermedius ” ZARUDNY, 1890 [valleys of Karguy­Sou, Firousé and Gujarmaou in SW Transcaspia] a cinereus subspecies?

The forms belonging to the group so far termed cinereus are found from the Indomalayan region to the S Palaearctic and hence encounter the P 2 forms further west, where interbreeding obviously occurs: “ intermedius ”, see Formozov et al. (1993). It would be especially important to undertake a systematic study of the populations in the Kopetdag, which is to a certain extent the interface for three population groups (2, 3, 6), the last two of which exhibit close similarities (adult birds without lipochrome), cf. Kerimov and Formozov (1985) as well as the survey of several contact regions of the Great Tits s.l. by Formozov et al. (1993).

P. cinereus ziaratensis WHISTLER, 1929 [Ziarat, Baluchistan]; P. cinereus decolorans KOELZ, 1939 [Jalalabad, E Afghanistan]; P. cinereus caschmirensis HARTERT, 1905 [Gilgit].

The population group: P 6 ziaratensis, decolorans, caschmirensis; Afghanistan, NW Himalayas. – Fig. Quinn: Plate 28: 85 p, q; caschmirensis.

* The populations differ in intensity of coloration.