Blue-eared Kingfisher - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Several plumage variations in the population that occur across its wide distribution range have been recognized as subspecies. These include:

• A. m. coltarti - Indian Subcontinent, Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina and includes laubmanni of eastern India
• A. m. phillipsi Sri Lanka which are said to be larger and darker blue. Some authors restrict this to the Sri Lankan population while some older authors extend its range into the southern Western Ghats of India.
• A. m. rufigastra Andaman Islands which is greener on the upper blue parts.
• A. m. scintillans southern Burma and Thailand
• A. m. verreauxii Malaysia to Riau Archipelago east through Borneo and the Sulu Islands.
• A. m. meninting Islands off the west coast of Sumatra, Java, Lombok, Sulawesi, Banggai and Sula Islands.

Some other subspecies callima, subviridis and proxima are not considered to be distinct enough.