Long-tailed Bushtit
Aegithalos caudatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 long-tailed tit or long-tailed bushtit (Aegithalos caudatus) is a common bird species belonging to the bushtit family found throughout Eurasia. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous and mixed woodlands as well as scrub, heathland, farmland, parks and gardens. The plumage of this small long-tailed bird is predominantly black and white with varying amounts of pink and grey. Northern subspecies are paler and have completely white heads, lacking the large dark eyebrows of southern populations. It is a social bird that forms compact family flocks of six to seventeen individuals outside of the breeding season, when these flocks break up. It has a strong preference for nesting in scrub areas and often builds its nest in thorny bushes less than 3 metres (10 feet) above the ground.
Wikipedia contributors, Long-tailed tit; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:38:06.518655+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Aegithalos caudatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Long-tailed Bushtit
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Aegithalidae
- Genus
- Aegithalos
- 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
- familyAegithalidae
- genusAegithalos Hermann, 1804
- speciesAegithalos caudatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Aegithalos. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Aegithalos bonvaloti (Oustalet, 1892) | AegithalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-throated BushtitAegithalos niveogularis (Gould, 1855) | AegithalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aegithalos sharpei (Rippon, 1904) | AegithalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-throated BushtitAegithalos concinnus (Gould, 1855) | AegithalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sooty BushtitAegithalos fuliginosus (J. Verreaux, 1869) | AegithalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aegithalos glaucogularis (Moore, 1855) | AegithalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rufous-fronted BushtitAegithalos iouschistos (Blyth, 1845) | AegithalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-cheeked BushtitAegithalos leucogenys (Moore, 1854) | AegithalidaeChordata | 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=558441 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:64WQQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.