Turdus Simillimus Bird

English Name:  Indian Blackbird
Latin Name:  Turdus simillimus
Protonym:  Turdus simillimus MadrasJ.Lit.Sci. Vol. 10, N° 25 p. 253-254
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Turdidae / Turdus
Taxonomy Code:  eurbla2
Type Locality:  Nilgiris ; restricted to Avalanche, higher southern Nilgiri Plateau, by Ripley, 1950, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, 49, p. 51.
Author:  Jerdon
Publish Year:  1839
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

TURDUS
(Turdidae; Ϯ Mistle Thrush T. viscivorus) L. turdus  thrush; "95. TURDUS.  Rostrum tereti-cultratum, maxilla superiore apice deflexo.  Nares nudæ, superne membranula semitectæ.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758); "Turdus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 168. Type, by subsequent designation (Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 27), Turdus viscivorus Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters 1964, X, 177). Linnaeus's Turdus comprised sixteen species (T. viscivorus, T. pilaris, T. iliacus, T. musicus, T. Canorus, T. rufus, T. polyglottos, T. Orpheus, T. plumbeus, T. crinitus, T. roseus, T. Merula, T. torquatus, T. solitarius, T. arundinaceus, T. virens).   
Var. Turus, Trudus, Turtus, Curdus.     
Synon. Afrocichla, Arceuthornis, Cichlherminia, Cichloides, Cichloselys, Copsichus, Copsicus, Cossyphopsis, Galeoscoptes, Haplocichla, Hodoiporus, Iliacus, Ixocossyphus, Lamprophonus, Melizocincla, Meridiocichla, Merula, Merulissima, Mimocichla, Mimokitta, Nesocichla, Peliocichla, Petrocincla, Planesticus, Platycichla, Semimerula, Thoracocincla, Turdela, Turdicus.

turdus
L. turdus  thrush.
● ex “Grivetin” of Levaillant 1802, pl. 118 < French Grive thrush (syn. Erythropygia leucophrys).
● "89. Loxia Turdus F.  ...  Habitat in insula australi Novae Zeeelandiae, simillima Turdo, statura, colore, pedibus.  Corpus magnitudine Turdi viscivori, supra fuscum." (Forster 1844) (syn. Turnagra capensis).

simillima / simillimum / simillimus
L. simillimus  very similar  < super. similis  similar.
● "Arachnothera simillima, Sp. Nov.  Extremely like A. flavigaster, Eyton, but smaller, somewhat yellower above and below, with a much smaller bill and distinguished at once by the rami of the lower mandible not meeting to form the angle of the gonys till within 0·6 of the point.  ...  This bird may not be new, but I am unable to identify it; and I think it probable that owing to its extreme similarity to the common flavigaster it may hitherto have escaped observation." (Hume 1877) (syn. Arachnothera flavigaster).
● "75. Dicaeum geelvinkianum simillimum subsp. nov.  Extremely similar to D. g. diversum R. & H. (NOV. ZOOL. 1903, p. 215), but differs by the deeper red colour of the crown, breast patch and rump.  ...  It is perhaps risky to describe a form which differs so little, but this form is interesting as standing in between rubrocoronatum and diversum, in having the deep red of the former and the more steel-blue (not purplish) edges of the latter, and its geographical position is equally intermediate." (Hartert 1930) (syn. Dicaeum geelvinkianum).
● "Sp. 134.  Heterophasia simillima, nov. sp.  ...  Simillima H. PICOIDI (Hodgs.) nepalensi, sed paullo minor, subtus pallidior, abdomine et subcaudalibus sordide albidis, et speculo alari albo minore, diversa." (Salvadori 1879) (subsp. Heterophasia picaoides).
● "Rallus torquatus simillimus, subsp. nov.  Description.—Male and female.  Very similar to Rallus torquatus sulcirostris Wallace from Sula Mangoli and Taliaboe, but larger and slightly more rufous and a little darker on the upper parts.  ...  The difference in colour is very slight, and some specimens are scarcely different in this respect.  I would not have given the Peling population a new name were it not an island race." (Neumann 1939) (syn. Hypotaenidia torquata).
● "30b. *Diaphoropterus naevius simillimus nov. Subsp.   Verbreitung: Alle drei Loyalty-Inseln.  ...  ausser dem etwa kürzeren Schwanz mit der caledonischen Form übereinstimmend.  Beim Weibchen, besonders bei dem von Maré, sind die weissen Säume der Primär- und namentlich der Sekundärschwingen wesentlich schmäler als beim caledonischen Vogel, ähnlich die hell rötlichbraunen des Weibchens von Lifou." (F. Sarasin 1913) (subsp. Lalage leucopygus).
● "454. Motacilla flava simillima subsp. nov.  Budytes leucostriatus (non Homeyer!) amerikanischer Ornithologen.   In Kamtschatka brütet eine Schafstelze, die der mitteleuropäischen M. f. flava so ähnlich ist, daß sie schwer zu unterscheiden ist und bisher von europäischen Ornithologen nicht davon unterschieden wurde" (Hartert 1905) (subsp. Motacilla tschutschensis).
● "There also we find a beautiful and apparently very common Pitta, closely assimilating in colour, but in colour alone, to the P. strepitans  ...  Having lately had a great number of specimens forwarded to me which all agree in being of a smaller size and in having the under surface of a deeper buff, I propose, notwithstanding the opinion given in my 'Handbook,' to characterize it as distinct, and at the same time to assign to it a name (simillima) which shall mark its affinity to the older known species.  ...  PITTA SIMILLIMA, Gould." (Gould 1868) (subsp. Pitta versicolor).
● "83.—T. simillimus.—New species.—Neilgherry black bird.   This black bird, generally considered by residents on the Neilgherries to be identical with the European species, so closely resembles it, that I was unable to decide accurately from the descriptions I possess, til I procured some specimens from home of the British bird.  It however differs invariably (besides in other points hereafter to be mentioned) in the colour of its legs, which are always yellow, whilst those of the T. merula are brown" (Jerdon 1839) (Turdus). 

SUBSPECIES

Indian Blackbird (Indian)
Latin Name: Turdus simillimus simillimus/bourdilloni
TURDUS
(Turdidae; Ϯ Mistle Thrush T. viscivorus) L. turdus  thrush; "95. TURDUS.  Rostrum tereti-cultratum, maxilla superiore apice deflexo.  Nares nudæ, superne membranula semitectæ.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758); "Turdus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 168. Type, by subsequent designation (Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 27), Turdus viscivorus Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters 1964, X, 177). Linnaeus's Turdus comprised sixteen species (T. viscivorus, T. pilaris, T. iliacus, T. musicus, T. Canorus, T. rufus, T. polyglottos, T. Orpheus, T. plumbeus, T. crinitus, T. roseus, T. Merula, T. torquatus, T. solitarius, T. arundinaceus, T. virens).   
Var. Turus, Trudus, Turtus, Curdus.     
Synon. Afrocichla, Arceuthornis, Cichlherminia, Cichloides, Cichloselys, Copsichus, Copsicus, Cossyphopsis, Galeoscoptes, Haplocichla, Hodoiporus, Iliacus, Ixocossyphus, Lamprophonus, Melizocincla, Meridiocichla, Merula, Merulissima, Mimocichla, Mimokitta, Nesocichla, Peliocichla, Petrocincla, Planesticus, Platycichla, Semimerula, Thoracocincla, Turdela, Turdicus.

Indian Blackbird (Black-capped)
Latin Name: Turdus simillimus nigropileus/spencei
TURDUS
(Turdidae; Ϯ Mistle Thrush T. viscivorus) L. turdus  thrush; "95. TURDUS.  Rostrum tereti-cultratum, maxilla superiore apice deflexo.  Nares nudæ, superne membranula semitectæ.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758); "Turdus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 168. Type, by subsequent designation (Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 27), Turdus viscivorus Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters 1964, X, 177). Linnaeus's Turdus comprised sixteen species (T. viscivorus, T. pilaris, T. iliacus, T. musicus, T. Canorus, T. rufus, T. polyglottos, T. Orpheus, T. plumbeus, T. crinitus, T. roseus, T. Merula, T. torquatus, T. solitarius, T. arundinaceus, T. virens).   
Var. Turus, Trudus, Turtus, Curdus.     
Synon. Afrocichla, Arceuthornis, Cichlherminia, Cichloides, Cichloselys, Copsichus, Copsicus, Cossyphopsis, Galeoscoptes, Haplocichla, Hodoiporus, Iliacus, Ixocossyphus, Lamprophonus, Melizocincla, Meridiocichla, Merula, Merulissima, Mimocichla, Mimokitta, Nesocichla, Peliocichla, Petrocincla, Planesticus, Platycichla, Semimerula, Thoracocincla, Turdela, Turdicus.

Indian Blackbird (Sri Lanka)
Latin Name: Turdus simillimus kinnisii
kinnisii
Dr John Kinnis (1795-1852) British surgeon-naturalist in Ceylon (subsp. Turdus simillimus).