Taiwan Barbet- New Endemic for Taiwan and Hushan

Taiwan Barbet: courtesy of Richard Yu.


Some good news for Hushan and Taiwan. The endemic subspecies of Black-browed Barbet (aka Muller's Barbet or Five Color Bird in Chinese) Megalaima oorti nuchalis has been proposed as a full Taiwan endemic, (Taiwan Barbet) Megalaima nuchalis, in a paper titled Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the Black-browed Barbet species complex (Megalaima oorti) by Julie Feinstein, Xiaojun Yang, and Shou-hsien Li published in the well known Ibis Journal (Ibis-2007, doi: 10.1111/j.1474-919x.2007.00732.x) of the British Ornithologists’ Union. This is good for Taiwan birding and another reason to protect the Hushan area. The Taiwan Barbet is pretty common in the Hushan forests and its delightful call is heard continuously as a background accompaniment to any walk through the Hushan forests.