Montecincla is a genus of passerine birds in the family Leiothrichidae. All four species in this genus are endemic to “sky islands” in the Western Ghats mountain range of southwestern India, generally above 1,200m elevation.[1]
| Montecincla | |
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| Nilgiri laughingthrush, (Montecincla cachinnans) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Leiothrichidae |
| Genus: | Montecincla Robin et al., 2017 |
| Species | |
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See text | |
Species
editThe genus contains the following species:[2]
- Nilgiri laughingthrush, Montecincla cachinnans
- Palani laughingthrush, Montecincla fairbanki
- Banasura laughingthrush, Montecincla jerdoni
- Ashambu laughingthrush, Montecincla meridionalis
The four species are found on the tops of mountain ranges separated by deep valleys and are thought to have speciated during global warming. The two pairs separated by the Palghat Gap are estimated to have diverged more than 5 million years ago.
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| Relationships between the species[3] |
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Montecincla.
- ^ Robin, V.V.; Vishnudas, C.K.; Gupta, P.; Rheindt, F.E.; Hooper, D.M.; Ramakrishnan, U.; Reddy, S. (2017). "Two new genera of songbirds represent endemic radiations from the Shola Sky Islands of the Western Ghats, India". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (31): 1–14. doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0882-6. PMC 5259981. PMID 28114902.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Laughingthrushes and allies". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- ^ Cibois, Alice; Gelang, Magnus; Alström, Per; Pasquet, Eric; Fjeldså, Jon; Ericson, Per G. P.; Olsson, Urban (2018). "Comprehensive phylogeny of the laughingthrushes and allies (Aves, Leiothrichidae) and a proposal for a revised taxonomy". Zoologica Scripta. 47 (4): 428–440. doi:10.1111/zsc.12296. S2CID 51883434.