Gracupica


Gracupica is a genus of Asian birds in the family Sturnidae. It is sometimes merged with Sturnus or ''Sturnia.''

Taxonomy

The genus Gracupica was introduced in 1831 by the French naturalist René Lesson to accommodate the black-collared starling which is therefore the type species. The genus name combines the Latin graculus meaning "jackdaw" with pica meaning "magpie".

Species

The genus contains four species.
ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Gracupica nigricollisBlack-collared starlingBrunei, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam
Gracupica contraIndian pied mynaIndian subcontinent
Gracupica floweriSiamese pied mynamainland Southeast Asia
Gracupica jallaJavan pied mynasouthern Sumatra, Java, and Bali

A 2021 study found that G. contra represents a species complex of 3 distinct species formerly thought to be subspecies of G. contra: the Indian pied myna from most of the Indian Subcontinent, Myanmar, and Yunnan in China; the Siamese pied myna from Thailand and Cambodia, and the possibly extinct in the wild Javan pied myna, historically known from Java and Bali in Indonesia. The International Ornithological Congress has accepted these results.