White-winged Black Tit

White-winged Black Tit
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paridae
Genus:	Parus
Species:	P. leucomelas
Binomial name
Parus leucomelas Rüppell, 1840
Synonyms
Melaniparus leucomelas

The White-winged Black Tit Parus leucomelas, also known as the White-winged Tit, is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is found in central Africa, from Angola in the west to Ethiopia in the east.

It is mainly black with a white wing patch, but differs from the more northern White-shouldered Tit Parus guineensis with which it sometimes considered conspecific in that it has a dark eye.

It is sometimes separated in the genus Melaniparus, which is a group of usually dark species from Africa. Analysis of its mtDNA cytochrome b sequence (Gill et al., 2005) indicates that these birds may indeed form a clade, but the interrelationships of the species between them and with the Parus sensu strictissimo ist not resolved enough at present; it appears however that separating Melaniparus as a genus and not just a subgenus of Parus is unwarranted.

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Parus leucomelas. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

• 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 HTML abstract