White-tailed Tityra

Open encyclopedia reference

The white-tailed tityra (Tityra leucura) is a medium-sized passerine bird about 19 cm long with pied plumage, mostly white or very pale grey, but with a black crown and wings.

It is found in a small area of the Amazon rainforest near the Madeira River in the far west of Brazil close to the Peruvian border. It was first discovered in 1829 but the one specimen collected then, an immature male, sat forgotten in the Natural History Museum, Vienna until 1868, when August von Pelzeln concluded it represented an undescribed species. For many decades after that, no further individuals were seen; its close similarity to the widespread black-crowned tityra resulted in its being widely considered an aberrant specimen of that. Very recently however, further live male individuals were seen and later photographed in the same region in 2006 and 2022 respectively; re-evaluation based on these new sightings resulted in the conclusion that Pelzeln was correct in his decision to name it as a distinct species. It differs from black-crowned tityra in having a white, not black, tail.

Wikipedia contributors, White-tailed tityra; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:39:36.899761+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Tityra leucura Pelzeln, 1868

Name authority

Pelzeln, 1868

Common name

White-tailed Tityra

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Tityridae

Genus

Tityra

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. familyTityridae
11. genusTityra Vieillot, 1816
12. speciesTityra leucura Pelzeln, 1868

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 25 records assigned to Tityridae.

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.

1. Pelzeln, August von. (1868). Zur Ornithologie Brasiliens: Resultate von Johann Natterers Reisen in Den Jahren 1817 Bis 1835, Abtheilungen 2. 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:5797M. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.