Sombre Tit

Taxobox
name = Sombre Tit
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
status_ref = [ IUCN2006|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=52078|title=Parus lugubris|downloaded=12 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Paridae
genus = "Poecile"
species = "P. lugubris"
binomial = "Poecile lugubris"
binomial_authority = Temminck, 1820
synonyms ="Parus lugubris"

The Sombre Tit ("Poecile lugubris") is a member of the tit family found in southeast Europe and southwest Asia.

Traditionally placed in "Parus", mtDNA cytochrome "b" sequence data suggests that that genus should be split, als already adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union for example. This species is part of the chickadee group which would then make up the genus "Poecile". In "Poecile", this species forms part of a group of apparently rather basal species, the relationships of which are ill-definied. They also include the Varied and probably the White-fronted Tit (which were sometimes separated in "Sittiparus"), and possibly the White-browed and Caspian Tits.(Gill "et al.", 2005 [Gill, Frank B.; Slikas, Beth & Sheldon, Frederick H. (2005): Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome-"b" gene. "Auk" 122: 121-143. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122 [0121:POTPIS] 2.0.CO;2 [http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1642%2F0004-8038%282005%29122%5B0121%3APOTPIS%5D2.0.CO%3B2 HTML abstract] ] )

References