Fawn-breasted Whistler
Pachycephala orpheus Jardine, 1849
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
The fawn-breasted whistler (Pachycephala orpheus) is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae. It is found on the islands of Timor and Wetar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. Alternate names for the fawn-breasted whistler include the Sunda whistler and Timor whistler. The former name is shared with the bare-throated whistler. The fawn-breasted whistler (Pachycephala orpheus) is primarily insectivorous, searching by collecting insects from underground and the shrub layer of its forest habitat in Timor and Wetar, Indonesia. It is native to the islands of Timor and Wetar, where it lives in mountainous areas up to a height of roughly 1200 meters as well as subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests. Three subspecies are recognised: P. o. orpheus Jardine, 1849 – Rote Island, Timor, Jaco (east of Timor), Atauro (between Timor and Wetar) and Wetar (east Lesser Sunda Islands) P. o. par Hartert, EJO, 1904 – Romang, east of Wetar; east Lesser Sunda Islands) P. o.
Wikipedia contributors, Fawn-breasted whistler; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:53:41.195986+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pachycephala orpheus Jardine, 1849
- Name authority
- Jardine, 1849
- Common name
- Fawn-breasted Whistler
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pachycephalidae
- Genus
- Pachycephala
- 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
- familyPachycephalidae Swainson, 1831
- genusPachycephala Vigors, 1825
- speciesPachycephala orpheus Jardine, 1849
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pachycephala. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Green-backed WhistlerPachycephala albiventris (Ogilvie-Grant, 1894) | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Melanesian WhistlerPachycephala caledonica (Gmelin, 1789) | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pachycephala cinerea (Blyth, 1847) | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Samoan WhistlerPachycephala flavifrons (Peale, 1848) | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pachycephala fulvotincta Wallace, 1864 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pachycephala graeffii Hartlaub, 1866 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Drab WhistlerPachycephala griseonota G. R. Gray, 1862 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gilbert's WhistlerPachycephala inornata Gould, 1841 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tongan WhistlerPachycephala jacquinoti Bonaparte, 1850 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pachycephala leucogastra Salvadori & Albertis, 1875 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lorentz's WhistlerPachycephala lorentzi Mayr, 1931 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pachycephala mentalis Wallace, 1863 | PachycephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
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=561773 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:4BQD8. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.