The Golden spectacled Warbler: a complex of sibling species, including a previously undescribed species

• The Golden-spectacled Warbler, usually treated as a single species, Seicercus burkii, is widely distributed in mountains of southern Asia. We argue that it should be treated as five different species, one of which is described here for the first time. Two species occur in sympatry in the Himalayas. The other three species are found in eastern Asia, where all three are sympatric in China, and two of these breed sympatrically also in Vietnam. In Burma and adjacent parts of India, one of the Himalayan species is sympatric with one of the east Asian species. We describe differences in morphology, vocalizations, altitudinal distribution and habitat between these five species, as well as results from playback tests, which show that all sympatric taxa differ and appear to be reproductively isolated from each other.

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)