NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Celestial Monarch
Hypothymis coelestis Tweeddale, 1877
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Celestial Monarch seen in Agusan del Sur. Photo by Cheta Chua
Chetatata · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The celestial monarch (Hypothymis coelestis) is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae, and one of the most attractive of all the monarch flycatchers. It is identified as a turquoise blue bird with a long and spectacular cerulean blue crest and large greenish-yellow wattle. It is endemic to the Philippines with its extant range being in Luzon, Samar, Mindanao Tawi-Tawi and Basilan and it being possibly extinct on Negros and Sibuyan Island.Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests up to 750 masl. There is an unverified report of this bird in 2024 in Leyte. It is one of the most sought after birds by birdwatchers in the Philippines and in the world.
Wikipedia contributors, Celestial monarch; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:17:21.471121+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hypothymis coelestis Tweeddale, 1877
- Name authority
- Tweeddale, 1877
- Common name
- Celestial Monarch
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae
- Genus
- Hypothymis
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyMonarchidae Bonaparte, 1854
- genusHypothymis F. Boie, 1826
- speciesHypothymis coelestis Tweeddale, 1877
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Hypothymis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black-naped MonarchHypothymis azurea (Boddaert, 1783) | MonarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Short-crested MonarchHypothymis helenae (Steere, 1890) | MonarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pale-blue MonarchHypothymis puella (Wallace, 1863) | MonarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Marquess of Tweeddale, & Arthur. (1877). Descriptions of some new Species of Birds. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Vol. 20, No. 120. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3NZPY. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.