Tenerife goldcrest

Tenerife goldcrest
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Regulidae
Genus: Regulus
Species: R. regulus
Subspecies: R. r. teneriffae
Trinomial name
Regulus regulus teneriffae
Seebohm, 1883

The Tenerife goldcrest, Regulus regulus teneriffae, (sometimes considered a separate species, R. teneriffae) is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family, closely resembling the goldcrest but with a broader black band across the forehead, slightly darker underparts and a longer bill. It breeds in the Canary Islands of Tenerife and La Gomera, where it is a non-migratory resident. It prefers Canary Island Pine forests, but also occurs in laurisilva forests.

The populations on La Palma and El Hierro, previously thought to belong to this taxon, are now recognized as, at least, a distinct subspecies, the Western Canary Islands goldcrest R. (r.) ellenthalerae (Päckert et al., 2006), which evolved from an independent colonisation of the islands.

References

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