Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx erithaca/ C. rufidorsa (1 Viewer)

[Ben Wielstra]

I am a bit puzzled about the taxonomy of the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher complex. I guess that’s normal. Borneo is where it gets fishy. Morphologically there is integration between the two forms, which has been the basis for lumping the two in one species, i.e. Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx erithaca.

Recently two fieldguides for Borneo have been published (one by Myers and one by Phillipps and Phillipps). Both treat Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher quite differently, but both recognize two species: Black-backed ‘C. erithaca’ and Rufous-backed ‘C. rufidorsa’ KF.

‘Myers’ mentions that recent molecular studies suggest that all Bornean dwarf kingfishers are ‘rufidorsa’, but that these birds are highly variable in coloration. No references are provided to back this claim up. ‘Myers’ depicts an individual representing ‘rufidorsa’, which basically looks like ‘erithaca’ in all respects except for its rufous back (so with dark forehead, neck patch, coverts and scapulars).

‘Phillipps & Phillipps’ suggests both ‘species’ occur. They do however specifically mention extensive intergradation on Borneo, which is actually generally regarded as evidence to treat the two as conspecific. Here they refer to Lim/Moyle 2009, but neither is listed amongst the references ‘Phillipps & Phillipps’ depict the two extremes of the cline to represent the two forms (unfortunately showing ‘erithaca’ only from the front!).

Here is an example of a Bornean Ceyx which I videoed at Danum Valley Field Centre in March last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaH1j8CBlYM This one looks similar to the one depicted by ‘Myers’.

Does anybody have any information on recent molecular research on Bornean dwarf kingfishers? Or any opinions on the matter?

Cheers,
Ben

 

[birdboybowley]

Not sure on the exact taxonomic situation but all the Oriental Kings I saw in Borneo and photos I've seen all show birds with rufous mantles

 

[Jacana]

I've only seen the black-backed form, from what i've heard from people with experience with both forms is that they should probably be considered conspecific. There have been records of mixed pairs in Thailand and I think i'm right in saying that the offspring of one pairing came out as either red-backed or black-backed, although i might have made that up...

 

[Daniel Philippe]

Does anybody have any information on recent molecular research on Bornean dwarf kingfishers?

These two studies seem to confirm the two-species hypothesis :

Marks, B. D. & D. E. Willard 2005
Phylogenetic relationships of the Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher (Ispidina madagascariensis)
The Auk 122(4): 1271-1280
( there : see Fig. 1 and 2).

Moyle R.G., Fuchs J., Pasquet E., Marks B., 2007.
Feeding behavior, toe count and the phylogenetic relationships among alcedinine kingfishers (Alcedininae).
Journal of Avian Biology 38: 317-326.
(the full paper can be downloaded from this site )


But the final result may be not as expected ; see for instance this abstract from the A.O.U. 124th meeting (October 2006 • Veracruz, Mexico):

Lim, H. C., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA, [email protected]
SPECIES STATUS OF TWO FOREST KINGFISHERS, CEYX ERITHACUS AND C. RUFIDORSA, IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
The species status of the two forest kingfishers, Ceyx erithacus and C. rufidorsa, has long intrigued scientists. The former has blackish-blue mantle, scapulars and wings while in the latter the blue is replaced by a lilac-rufous coloration. C. erithacus occurs primarily in continental South East Asia whereas the range of C. rufidorsa is more southeasterly and insular. Interestingly, plumage forms intermediate of the two “parental” forms are common in Malaysia and Indonesia. This leads to the question of whether there is contemporary gene flow between the two species, incomplete sorting or if the intermediate individuals form a stable “hybrid subspecies”. Using ND2 data from the mitochondria and genealogical analyses, I found that both red and blue form birds in Borneo, southern peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra cluster together. These birds are closely related to C. rufidorsa that occurs in Java, where no erithacus is known to occur. Moreover, this group of birds are distantly related (c. 5% sequence divergence) to continental erithacus. More DNA segments (e.g. nuclear introns, MC1R gene) will be sequenced to determine the underlying genealogical relationships of these birds.

 

[birdboybowley]

...although i might have made that up...

Ha ha, the best of us usually do Will :-O

 

[James Eaton]

There is a paper to be published in the future showing that motleyi (the Sabah taxon - rufous back but black/blue on the wings) is in fact part of the rufidorsa complex and not erithacus. This is where the confusion with erithacus occuring in Borneo has come from.

As far as I am aware there are no confirmed records (or specimens) of true rufidorsa or erithacus from Sabah.

Rufidorsa and erithacus will be shown to be good species with very little intergradation.

I spent a couple of hours at Tring last year looking at the hundreds of specimens of 'Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher' and found it fascinating, finding just one or two potential intergrades.

Motleyi only occurs in Sabah, being replaced by rufidorsa throughout the rest of Borneo - showing the same range as other endemic taxon, ie, White-crowned Shama, Black-crowned Pitta, White-fronted Falconet.

Cheers,

James

 

[Ben Wielstra]

Thanks James!

In your experience, how variable is motleyi in terms of morphology? Considering what has been published so far it seems that 'Bornean Ceyx', whatever that may mean, are very variable.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[James Eaton]

Hi Ben,

Judging by the 45 specimens I looked at, not very. The extend of black on the wings varies a little but not substantially. Two specimens from Labuan were intermediate in characters but the rest I was happy with being standard motleyi.

Cheers,

James

 

[Chlidonias]

There is a paper to be published in the future showing that motleyi (the Sabah taxon - rufous back but black/blue on the wings) is in fact part of the rufidorsa complex and not erithacus. This is where the confusion with erithacus occuring in Borneo has come from.

As far as I am aware there are no confirmed records (or specimens) of true rufidorsa or erithacus from Sabah.

Rufidorsa and erithacus will be shown to be good species with very little intergradation.

I spent a couple of hours at Tring last year looking at the hundreds of specimens of 'Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher' and found it fascinating, finding just one or two potential intergrades.

Motleyi only occurs in Sabah, being replaced by rufidorsa throughout the rest of Borneo - showing the same range as other endemic taxon, ie, White-crowned Shama, Black-crowned Pitta, White-fronted Falconet.

so by the above are you treating motleyi as a distinct species? Or as a subspecies of rufidorsa?

 

[James Eaton]

If you follow mtDNA then it would be just a subspecies of rufidorsa.

How am I treating it? mmm, I tend to play my cards close to my chest with complexes such as these, I would certainly like to look into it further. Isn't it fascinating how these near-Sabah endemic taxa have evolved...

 

[Ben Wielstra]

Marks, B. D. & D. E. Willard 2005
Phylogenetic relationships of the Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher (Ispidina madagascariensis)
The Auk 122(4): 1271-1280
( there : see Fig. 1 and 2).

Moyle R.G., Fuchs J., Pasquet E., Marks B., 2007.
Feeding behavior, toe count and the phylogenetic relationships among alcedinine kingfishers (Alcedininae).
Journal of Avian Biology 38: 317-326.
(the full paper can be downloaded from this site )


But the final result may be not as expected ; see for instance this abstract from the A.O.U. 124th meeting (October 2006 • Veracruz, Mexico):

Lim, H. C., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA, [email protected]
SPECIES STATUS OF TWO FOREST KINGFISHERS, CEYX ERITHACUS AND C. RUFIDORSA, IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
The species status of the two forest kingfishers, Ceyx erithacus and C. rufidorsa, has long intrigued scientists. The former has blackish-blue mantle, scapulars and wings while in the latter the blue is replaced by a lilac-rufous coloration. C. erithacus occurs primarily in continental South East Asia whereas the range of C. rufidorsa is more southeasterly and insular. Interestingly, plumage forms intermediate of the two “parental” forms are common in Malaysia and Indonesia. This leads to the question of whether there is contemporary gene flow between the two species, incomplete sorting or if the intermediate individuals form a stable “hybrid subspecies”. Using ND2 data from the mitochondria and genealogical analyses, I found that both red and blue form birds in Borneo, southern peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra cluster together. These birds are closely related to C. rufidorsa that occurs in Java, where no erithacus is known to occur. Moreover, this group of birds are distantly related (c. 5% sequence divergence) to continental erithacus. More DNA segments (e.g. nuclear introns, MC1R gene) will be sequenced to determine the underlying genealogical relationships of these birds.

And of course thanks for these references Daniel!

The Marks 2005 and Moyle 2007 study treat the Bornean birds different, with the former calling them 'erithacus' and the latter 'rufidorsum'. Both clusters are distinct from the representatives of the other Oriental KF taxon included. Basically, this hints at Phillipine ODKF being related to mainland Asian birds or, more likely, representing another clade altogether. Unless the Bornean birds sampled in both studies are indeed very different from each other. What a mess! The Lim study seems as if it is really going to shed light on the matter.

Now does 'erithatus' indeed winter on Borneo or should it be considered a vagrant or a case of misidentification? I hope all studies have taken the possibility of several taxa co-occurring during part of the year into consideration.

 

[James Eaton]

Ben,

It will all be very clear - I think the main problem was the amount of mislabelled specimens currently being held.

As far as I am aware erithatus has never been recorded in Borneo.

Not sure what you are referring to as 'Philippine ODKF' - the birds on Palawan are plain-old rufidorsa while Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher is a different species entirely (though Luzon birds are a little different to Mindanao birds).

To be clear:

erithatus - Indochinese breeder wintering down to the Malaysian peninsula and Sumatra.
rufidorsa - Sundaic breeder (Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Flores, Kalimantan, Sarawak and Palawan
ssp motleyi - Sabah only + edging into Sarawak and Labuan.

Very little hybridising proven.

James

 

[Ben Wielstra]

Not sure what you are referring to as 'Philippine ODKF'

Just to clear things up: I am referrng to rufidorsa from Philippines (so Palawan I presume, though it is not stated explicitly). This appears to be quite distinct from Bornean birds in the Moyle study, but of course to estimate what 'quite distinct' means, it should be looked at in a broader context, with higher sampling density.

 

[Daniel Philippe]

To be clear:

erithatus - Indochinese breeder wintering down to the Malaysian peninsula and Sumatra.
rufidorsa - Sundaic breeder (Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Flores, Kalimantan, Sarawak and Palawan
ssp motleyi - Sabah only + edging into Sarawak and Labuan.

This is very interesting, but what are the birds in Mindoro and Panay ? Are they pure rufidorsa or do we need to dig up vargasi (Ceyx erithacus vargasi Manuel, Phil. Journ. Sci., 69, 1939, p. 383,
pi. 1. (Puerto Galera, Mindoro.) ?

 

[James Eaton]

This is very interesting, but what are the birds in Mindoro and Panay ? Are they pure rufidorsa or do we need to dig up vargasi (Ceyx erithacus vargasi Manuel, Phil. Journ. Sci., 69, 1939, p. 383,
pi. 1. (Puerto Galera, Mindoro.) ?

According to Kennedy et al Mindoro birds are rufidorsa so I would assume vargasi isn't particularly distinct.

 

[Daniel Philippe]

New paper here

 

[njlarsen]

Thanks Daniel, so one important result seems to be that Black-backed Kingfisher is only breeding north of the Isthmus of Kra in the Thai-Malay peninsula, but the species is migratory and occurs in areas south of there in passage and winter?

Niels

 

[Richard Klim]

Lim et al 2010

New paper here

Unfortunately that link no longer seems to work for me, but the abstract is available here:

• Lim, Sheldon & Moyle 2010. Extensive color polymorphism in the southeast Asian oriental dwarf kingfisher Ceyx erithaca: a result of gene flow during population divergence? J Avian Biol 41(3): 305-318.
  http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123553312/abstract

Richard

 

[MJB]

Ceyx erithaca/rufidorsa

Sorry if I'm muddying the waters, but in Brunei in 1984 while on a RAF Ornithological Society expedition (if memory serves, prior to our time in the Temburong), our ringing party caught more than a few (then erithacus/rufidorsus Black-backed/Red backed) of these kingfishers. We discovered that they would fly through culverts, whereas the larger birds would fly over the top.
At the time, I took many slides that showed a complete range of plumages from one extreme to the other, and indeed used a small selection for slide shows.
We may have been in a hybrid zone. At the time, Clive Mann, who lived in Bandar Seri Bagawan, thought that the population might be a hybrid swarm, but molecular research since then has discovered the odd cases in other bird species of plumage colours being controlled by a dominant gene in one part of the distribution, but by partly-recessive genes in another part. I believe one suggested example is the appearance of 'grey crows' in isolated 'black crow' populations and the non-development of a 'grey crow' amid a large 'black-crow' population, the corone and cornix genes seemingly not aligning always with the expected colours.

 

[hawchuan]

Sorry if I'm muddying the waters, but in Brunei in 1984 while on a RAF Ornithological Society expedition (if memory serves, prior to our time in the Temburong), our ringing party caught more than a few (then erithacus/rufidorsus Black-backed/Red backed) of these kingfishers. We discovered that they would fly through culverts, whereas the larger birds would fly over the top.
At the time, I took many slides that showed a complete range of plumages from one extreme to the other, and indeed used a small selection for slide shows.
We may have been in a hybrid zone. At the time, Clive Mann, who lived in Bandar Seri Bagawan, thought that the population might be a hybrid swarm, but molecular research since then has discovered the odd cases in other bird species of plumage colours being controlled by a dominant gene in one part of the distribution, but by partly-recessive genes in another part. I believe one suggested example is the appearance of 'grey crows' in isolated 'black crow' populations and the non-development of a 'grey crow' amid a large 'black-crow' population, the corone and cornix genes seemingly not aligning always with the expected colours.

If you'd like the Lim, Sheldon & Moyle 2010. paper, just send me a msg via email. During migratory season, both black and red backed birds can occur in the Malay Peninsula.