Myophonus blighi (Holdsworth, 1872)
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.

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Open encyclopedia reference
The Sri Lanka whistling thrush (Myophonus blighi) is a whistling thrush in the family Muscicapidae. It is a resident endemic bird in Sri Lanka. It is found in the highlands of Sri Lanka in jungle or other dense forest near water. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, frogs, earthworms and berries. It lays one or two eggs in a neat cup-shaped nest in a bush or on a ledge near water. It does not form flocks, although several birds may be loosely associated in suitable habitat. This is a small whistling thrush, at only 20 cm. Adult males are dark blue with a darker head and back. There are bright blue patches on the shoulders, supercilia and forehead. The female is brown above and chestnut below, but has a bright blue shoulder patch like the male. The male sings its simple whistling song from trees, usually in deep cover. This is a notoriously difficult species to see, even when the males are singing in the breeding season, which starts in February.
Wikipedia contributors, Sri Lanka whistling thrush; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T14:02:57.051475+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Myophonus blighi (Holdsworth, 1872)
- Name authority
- (Holdsworth, 1872)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Myophonus
- 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
- familyMuscicapidae Fleming, 1822
- genusMyophonus Temminck, 1822
- speciesMyophonus blighi (Holdsworth, 1872)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Myophonus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Myophonus castaneus R. G. W. Ramsay, 1880 | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Myophonus glaucinus (Temminck, 1823) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Myophonus borneensis Slater, 1885 | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Myophonus caeruleus (Scopoli, 1786) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Myophonus horsfieldii Vigors, 1831 | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Myophonus insularis Gould, 1863 | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Myophonus melanurus (Salvadori, 1879) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Myophonus robinsoni Ogilvie-Grant, 1905 | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Myiophonus blighi (Holdsworth, 1872) (Holdsworth, 1872) | synonym |
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=916140 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:4555G. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.