Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii :A species of bird new to science from India and China

A species of bird new to science from India and China: Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii 

A new species of bird has been described from northeastern India and adjacent parts of China by a team of scientists from Sweden, China, India, the US, and Russia. We have named this bird as Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii. The scientific name honours the great Indian ornithologist Dr Sálim Ali (1896–1987), in recognition of his huge contributions to the development of Indian ornithology and wildlife conservation. This is the first Indian bird species, which has been named after Dr. Salim Ali.

We (Dr. Per Alström and myself) first discovered the Himalayan Forest Thrush in May-June of 2009 while studying birds at high elevations of Western Arunachal Pradesh. What first caught our attention was the fact that the “Plain-backed Thrush” in the coniferous and mixed forest had a rather musical song, whereas individuals found in the same region, but on bare rocky habitats above the tree-line had a much harsher, scratchier, unmusical song.

After studying the museum specimens in 15 museums in 7 countries and some extensive fieldwork in China we realized consistent differences in plumage and structure between birds from these two populations within Indian limits. Finally we could confirm that the species breeding in the forests of the eastern Himalayas had no scientific name. Hence we named the new species as Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii. The high-elevation “Plain-backed Thrush” is now renamed as Alpine Thrush while it retains the scientific name of Zoothera mollissima.

Further analyses of plumage, structure, song, DNA and ecology from throughout the range of the “Plain-backed Thrush” revealed that a third species was present in central China. While this population was already known, it was treated as a subspecies of “Plain-backed Thrush”. We have named this bird as Sichuan Forest Thrush Zoothera griseiceps. The song of the Sichuan Forest Thrush is even more musical than the song of the Himalayan Forest Thrush.

DNA analyses suggested that these three species have been genetically separated for several million years. Genetic data from three old museum specimens indicated the presence of a fourth species from China that remains unnamed. Future field studies are required to confirm this.

The Himalayan Forest Thrush is locally common. It has been overlooked until now because of its close similarity in appearance to the Alpine Thrush.

New bird species are rarely discovered nowadays. Since 2000, an average of five new species per year have been discovered globally, most of which are from South America. The Himalayan Forest Thrush is only the fourth new bird species described from India since our independence in 1947.

I would like to congratulate and thank all my co-authors. Per Alstrom, Pamela Rasmussen, Chao Zhao, Jinzi Xu, Tianlong Cai, Yuyan Guan, Ruying Zhang, Mikhail Kalyakin, Fumin Lei and Urban Olsson for this exciting discovery.

Photo Credit: Craig Brelsford. Thanks for a such a beautiful photograph.