Parus varius

Eck, Siegfried, 2006, The Palaearctic Titmouse Species (Aves: Paridae: Parus sensu lato) — A current survey *, Zootaxa 1325, pp. 7-54 : 29-30

1. Parus varius

Outside the Palaearctic on Taiwan P. varius castaneoventris GOULD, 1862. Regarding the subspecies see Kuroda (1927: 698–701).

P. varius varius TEMMINCK & SCHLEGEL, 1845 [loc. typ. restr. Honshu]; P. varius sunsunpi KURODA, 1919 [Tanegashima, Osumi islands, S Japan]; P. varius namiyei KURODA, 1918 [Niishima, islands of Izu, Japan]; P. varius owstoni IJIMA, 1893 [Miyakeshima, islands of Izu]; P. varius amamii (KURODA, 1922) [Amami, Riu­kiu islands]; P. varius orii (KURODA, 1923) [Minami­Daitojima, Borodino islands]; P. varius olivaceus (KURODA, 1923) [Iriomote, S Riu­kiu islands].

The population group: P 25 varius , sunsunpi, namiyei, owstoni, amamii, orii, olivaceus; Kuriles and NE China to Taiwan. Fig. Quinn: Plate18: 95a–d.

* Differences in shading of the overall coloration, size of upper­back spot, wing length (maximum of 84 mm in owstoni) and bill length. — The likewise strong­billed Parus semilarvatus of the Philippines has a bill that as a whole curves markedly downward and hence is very divergent. Its white forehead is reminiscent of P. v a r i u s.