Taxonomy and Systematics
There is considerable geographic variation in this species and several disjunct populations exist. Some former races are sometimes considered full species requiring the reorganization of other former subspecies. As many as nineteen subspecies have been described. Race speciosus (Latham, 1790) found along the Himalayas from Kashmir east to southern China has been elevated to a full species in some works. If this is considered a species, then the races fraterculus, andamanensis and semiruber would be considered as subspecies of that species. The named subspecies within this complex include:
- speciosus (Latham, 1790) along the Himalayas
- fraterculus Swinhoe, 1870 is found in the northeast of India and extends into Myanmar, Yunnan and Hainan
- semiruber Whistler & Kinnear, 1933 is found in southern Myanmar and Thailand
- andamanensis Beavan, 1867 - Andaman Islands
- flammeus (J. R. Forster, 1781) Western Ghats, Nilgiris and Sri Lanka (called the Orange Minivet)
- fohkiensis Buturlin, 1910 is found in southeastern China
- flammifer Hume, 1875 is found in southern Myanmar, southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia
- xanthogaster (Raffles, 1822) is found in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra
Several isolated island forms that have been described include:
- minythomelas Oberholser, 1912 is an insular form described from Simeulue Island off Sumatra.
- modiglianii Salvadori, 1892 from Enggano Island
- insulanus Deignan, 1946 from Borneo.
- siebersi Rensch, 1928 from Java and Bali.
- exul Wallace, 1864 from Lombok
- novus McGregor, 1904 from Luzon and Negros
- leytensis Steere, 1890 from Samar, Leyte and Bohol
- gonzalesi Ripley & Rabor, 1961 from N & E Mindanao
- nigroluteus Parkes, 1981 from south central Mindanao
- johnstoniae Ogilvie-Grant, 1905 from Mt. Apo in southeastern Mindanao
- marchesae Guillemard, 1885 from the Sulu Archipelago
Read more about this topic: Scarlet Minivet