Short-tailed Parrotbill

Open encyclopedia reference

The short-tailed parrotbill (Suthora davidiana) is a species of bird in the family Paradoxornithidae. It is found in China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This genus differs from Suthora in having the tail less graduated and much shorter, not more than three-fourths the length of the wing; the bill is larger and much deeper in proportion; the wing is still more rounded, the 4th to the 7th being subequal. It contains but one species, and 3 subspecies, S. d. thompsoni ("Thompson's suthora"), and is found within India, S.d. tonkinensis found in Northeastern Laos, and S.d.davidiana found in eastern China around northern Guangdong and Zhejiang. Top and sides of the head bright cinnamon-rufous; hind neck, back and rump pale slate-grey, more or less washed with olive; wings and tail grey-brown, the quills edged with bright rufescent brown; chin and throat black; breast grey tinged with buff, more especially on the centre; flanks, abdomen and lower tail-coverts clear brownish ochraceous. Bill fleshy horny; irides hazel; legs plumbeous grey.

Wikipedia contributors, Short-tailed parrotbill; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:58:29.706085+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Suthora davidiana H. H. Slater, 1897

Name authority

H. H. Slater, 1897

Common name

Short-tailed Parrotbill

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Paradoxornithidae

Genus

Suthora

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. familyParadoxornithidae
11. genusSuthora Hodgson, 1837
12. speciesSuthora davidiana H. H. Slater, 1897

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 28 records assigned to Paradoxornithidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

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. Slater, & Henry Horrocks. (1897). On a Further Collection of Birds, made by Messrs. La Touche and Rickett, from N.W. Fohkien. Ibis, Vol. 3, No. 10. 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:DDDLR. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.