NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Shelley's Starling
Lamprotornis shelleyi (Sharpe, 1890)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
Shelley's starling (Lamprotornis shelleyi) is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in East Africa, within the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, and Tanzania.
The common name and Latin binomial commemorate George Ernest Shelley, an English ornithologist and nephew of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Wikipedia contributors, Shelley's starling; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:15:15.905575+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lamprotornis shelleyi (Sharpe, 1890)
- Name authority
- (Sharpe, 1890)
- Common name
- Shelley's 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familySturnidae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusLamprotornis Temminck, 1820
- speciesLamprotornis shelleyi (Sharpe, 1890)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lamprotornis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Burchell's StarlingLamprotornis australis (A. Smith, 1836) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pied StarlingLamprotornis bicolor (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Long-tailed Glossy StarlingLamprotornis caudatus (P. L. S. Müller, 1776) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bronze-tailed StarlingLamprotornis chalcurus Nordmann, 1835 | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Greater Blue-eared StarlingLamprotornis chalybaeus Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828 | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hildebrandt's StarlingLamprotornis hildebrandti (Cabanis, 1878) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Meves's StarlingLamprotornis mevesii (Wahlberg, 1856) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chestnut-bellied StarlingLamprotornis pulcher (P. L. S. Müller, 1776) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Splendid StarlingLamprotornis splendidus (Vieillot, 1822) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Superb StarlingLamprotornis superbus Rüppell, 1845 | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Emerald StarlingLamprotornis iris (Oustalet, 1879) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sharp-tailed StarlingLamprotornis acuticaudus (Barboza du Bocage, 1869) | SturnidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Spreo shelleyi Sharpe, 1890 Sharpe, 1890 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=560688 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:3S5R6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.