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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Lesser Blue-eared Starling

Lamprotornis chloropterus Swainson, 1838

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.

The picture shows a nice example of the Lesser Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chloropterus which I saw in December 2019 in Koubalan, Senegal. Koubalan is a small village in the Casamance region.

The picture shows a nice example of the Lesser Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chloropterus which I saw in December 2019 in Koubalan, Senegal. Koubalan is a small village in the Casamance region.

Philipp Hachtmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The lesser blue-eared starling or lesser blue-eared glossy-starling (Lamprotornis chloropterus) is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae.

It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Wikipedia contributors, Lesser blue-eared starling; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:29:41.865188+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Lamprotornis chloropterus Swainson, 1838
Name authority
Swainson, 1838
Common name
Lesser Blue-eared Starling
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Aves
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Sturnidae
Genus
Lamprotornis
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.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classAves
  9. orderPasseriformes
  10. familySturnidae Rafinesque, 1815
  11. genusLamprotornis Temminck, 1820
  12. speciesLamprotornis chloropterus Swainson, 1838

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Lamprotornis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Burchell's StarlingLamprotornis australis (A. Smith, 1836)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Pied StarlingLamprotornis bicolor (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Long-tailed Glossy StarlingLamprotornis caudatus (P. L. S. Müller, 1776)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Bronze-tailed StarlingLamprotornis chalcurus Nordmann, 1835SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Greater Blue-eared StarlingLamprotornis chalybaeus Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Hildebrandt's StarlingLamprotornis hildebrandti (Cabanis, 1878)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Meves's StarlingLamprotornis mevesii (Wahlberg, 1856)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Chestnut-bellied StarlingLamprotornis pulcher (P. L. S. Müller, 1776)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Splendid StarlingLamprotornis splendidus (Vieillot, 1822)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Superb StarlingLamprotornis superbus Rüppell, 1845SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Emerald StarlingLamprotornis iris (Oustalet, 1879)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Sharp-tailed StarlingLamprotornis acuticaudus (Barboza du Bocage, 1869)SturnidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 103 records assigned to Sturnidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Africa

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.

  1. Swainson, & William John. (1838). Animals in Menageries. 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:3S5QN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.