Editing Common starling (section)

== Taxonomy and systematics ==
The common starling was first described by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' in 1758 under its current binomial name.<ref>protonym: ''Sturnus vulgaris'' Linnaeus, 1758&nbsp;[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727074 Systema Naturae ed. 10 1 p.167]</ref> ''Sturnus'' and ''vulgaris'' are derived from the [[Latin]] for "starling" and "common" respectively.<ref name= jobling302>Jobling (2010) pp. 367, 405.</ref> The [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|staer}}, later {{lang|ang|stare}}, and the Latin {{lang|la|sturnus}} are both derived from an unknown [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] root dating back to the second millennium BC, imitative of the bird's call.<ref name = lockwood>Lockwood (1984) pp. 146–147.</ref> "Starling" was first recorded in the 11th century, when it referred to the juvenile of the species, but by the 16th century it had already largely supplanted "stare" to refer to birds of all ages.<ref name = lockwood/> The older name is referenced in [[W. B. Yeats|William Butler Yeats']] poem "The Stare's Nest by My Window".<ref name=wbyeats>Yeats (2000) p. 173</ref> The [[International Ornithological Congress]]'s preferred English vernacular name is common starling.<ref name=gill>{{cite web|author1=Gill, Frank |author2=Donsker, David |title=Sugarbirds, starlings, thrushes |work=IOC World Bird List 2013 (v 3.3) |url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/n-sugarbirds.html |access-date=9 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324114958/http://www.worldbirdnames.org/n-sugarbirds.html |archive-date=24 March 2010 }}</ref>

The [[starling]] family, Sturnidae, is an entirely [[Old World]] group apart from introductions elsewhere, with the greatest numbers of species in [[Southeast Asia]] and [[sub-Saharan Africa]].<ref name =feare13>Feare & Craig (1998) p. 13.</ref> The genus ''Sturnus'' is [[Polyphyly|polyphyletic]] and relationships between its members are not fully resolved. The closest relation of the common starling is the [[spotless starling]].<ref name =zuccon2006>{{cite journal | last= Zuccon| first=Dario |author2=Cibois, Alice|author3=Pasquet, Eric|author4=Ericson, Per G P| year= 2006| title= Nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data reveal the major lineages of starlings, mynas and related taxa| journal= Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume= 41 | issue = 2 | pages= 333–344 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.007 | pmid=16806992| bibcode=2006MolPE..41..333Z }}</ref> The non-migratory spotless starling may be descended from a population of ancestral ''S. vulgaris'' that survived in an [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] [[Last Glacial Maximum refugia|refugium]] during an [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]] retreat,<ref name =zuccon2008>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.251938811dab4a5dcc8000180/Zuccon+et+al+Sturnus+ZSC+2008.pdf |title=Phylogenetic relationships among Palearctic – Oriental starlings and mynas (genera ''Sturnus'' and ''Acridotheres'': Sturnidae) |first1=Dario |last1=Zuccon |first2=Eric |last2=Pasquet |first3=Per G P |last3=Ericson |date=September 2008 |journal=Zoologica Scripta |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=469–481 |doi=10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00339.x |s2cid=56403448 |access-date=2012-12-27 |archive-date=2016-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412110706/http://www.nrm.se/download/18.251938811dab4a5dcc8000180/Zuccon+et+al+Sturnus+ZSC+2008.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[mitochondria]]l [[gene]] studies suggest that it could be considered a subspecies of the common starling. There is more genetic variation between common starling populations than between the nominate common starling and the spotless starling.<ref name = neves/> Although common starling remains are known from the [[Middle Pleistocene]],<ref name= bedetti>{{cite journal | last= Bedetti | first= C | year= 2001| title= Update Middle Pleistocene fossil birds data from Quartaccio quarry (Vitinia, Roma, Italy) | journal= Proceedings 1st. International Congress the World of Elephants | pages= 18–22 }}</ref> part of the problem in resolving relationships in the Sturnidae is the paucity of the fossil record for the family as a whole.<ref name= zuccon2008/>

=== Subspecies ===
There are several [[subspecies]] of the common starling, which vary [[cline (biology)|clinally]] in size and the colour tone of the adult plumage. The gradual variation over geographic range and extensive [[intergradation]] means that acceptance of the various subspecies varies between authorities.<ref name=bwpc/><ref name=vaurie>{{cite journal | last=Vaurie | first=Charles | year=1954 | title=Systematic Notes on Palearctic Birds. No. 12. Muscicapinae, Hirundinidae, and Sturnidae | journal= American Museum Novitates | issue= 1694 | pages= 1–18 }}</ref>

<gallery heights="220px" class="center" mode="packed" caption="Subspecies">
A Common Starling on the ground, Düsseldorf.jpg|alt=Subspecies ''S. v. vulgaris''|''S. v. vulgaris'' in [[Düsseldorf]], Germany
Sturnus vulgaris faroensis.jpg|alt=Subspecies ''S. v. faroensis''|''S. v. faroensis'' in the [[Faroe Islands]]
Ab bird 025.jpg|alt=Subspecies ''S. v. tauricus''|''S. v. tauricus'' in [[Donetsk]], Ukraine
Sturnus vulgaris porphyronotus, Kensu, Almaty, Kazakhstan 1.jpg|alt=Subspecies ''S. v. porphyronotus''|''S. v. porphyronotus'' near [[Almaty]], Kazakhstan
</gallery>

{| style="width:78%;" class="wikitable"
|+ Subspecies{{efn|The table is based on Feare & Craig (1998).<ref name =feare183/>}}
|-
! scope="col" width=10% | Subspecies
! scope="col" width=8% | Authority
! scope="col" width=22% | Range
! scope="col" width=38% | Comments
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. vulgaris''
| Linnaeus, 1758
| Most of Europe, except the far northwest and far southeast; also [[Iceland]] and the [[Canary Islands]]. Introduced to [[North America]].
| The [[nominate subspecies]].
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. faroensis''
| [[Henry Wemyss Feilden|Feilden]], 1872
| [[Faroe Islands]]
| Slightly larger than nominate, especially in the bill and feet. Adult with darker and duller green gloss and far less spotting, even in fresh plumage. Juvenile sooty black with whitish chin and areas on the belly; the throat spotted black.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. zetlandicus''
| [[Ernst Hartert|Hartert, EJO]], 1918
| [[Shetland Islands]]
| Like ''S. v. faroensis'', but intermediate in size between that subspecies and ''S. v. vulgaris''. Birds from [[Fair Isle]], [[St Kilda, Scotland|St. Kilda]] and the [[Outer Hebrides]] are intermediate between this subspecies and the nominate and placement with ''S. v. vulgaris'' or ''S. v. zetlandicus'' varies according to the authority.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. granti''
| Hartert, EJO, 1903
| [[Azores]]
| Like the nominate, but smaller, especially the feet. Often strong purple gloss on the upperparts.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. poltaratskyi''
| [[Otto Finsch|Finsch]], 1878
| Eastern [[Bashkortostan]] eastwards through the [[Ural Mountains]] and central [[Siberia]], to [[Lake Baikal]] and western [[Mongolia]]
| Like the nominate, but gloss on the head predominantly purple, on the back green, on the flanks usually purplish-blue, on the upper wing-coverts bluish-green. In flight, conspicuous light cinnamon-buff fringes to the under wing-coverts and axillaries; these areas may appear very pale in fresh plumage.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. tauricus''
| [[Sergei Aleksandrovich Buturlin|Buturlin]], 1904
| From [[Crimea]] and east of the [[Dnieper River]] eastwards around the coast of the [[Black Sea]] to western [[Asia Minor]]. Not found in the uplands, where it is replaced by ''S. v. purpurascens''.
| Like the nominate, but decidedly long-winged. Gloss of the head green, of the body bronze-purple, of the flanks and upper wing-coverts greenish-bronze. The underwings blackish with pale fringes of the coverts. Nearly spotless in breeding plumage.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. purpurascens''
| [[John Gould|Gould]], 1868
| Eastern Turkey to [[Tbilisi]] and [[Lake Sevan]], in the uplands on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, replacing ''tauricus''
| Like the nominate, but the wings longer and green gloss restricted to the ear-coverts, neck and upper chest. Purple gloss elsewhere except on the flanks and upper wing-coverts, where it is more bronzy. Dark underwings with slim white fringes to the coverts.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. caucasicus''
| [[Theodore K Lorenz|Lorenz, T]], 1887
| [[Volga Delta]] through the eastern [[Caucasus]] and adjacent areas
| Green gloss on the head and back, purple gloss on the neck and belly, more bluish on the upper wing-coverts. The underwings like ''S. v. purpurascens''.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. porphyronotus''
| [[Richard Bowdler Sharpe|Sharpe]], 1888
| Western [[Central Asia]], grading into ''S. v. poltaratskyi'' between the [[Dzungarian Alatau]] and the [[Altai Mountains]]
| Very similar to ''S. v. tauricus'', and like it, nearly spotless in breeding plumage, but smaller and completely [[allopatric]], being separated by ''S. v. purpurascens'', ''S. v. caucasicus'' and ''S. v. nobilior''.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. nobilior''
| [[Allan Octavian Hume|Hume]], 1879
| [[Afghanistan]], southeastern [[Turkmenistan]] and adjacent [[Uzbekistan]] to eastern [[Iran]]
| Like ''S. v. purpurascens'', but smaller and the wings shorter; the ear-coverts glossed purple, and the underside and upperwing gloss quite reddish.
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. humii''
| [[William Edwin Brooks|Brooks, WE]], 1876
| [[Kashmir]] to [[Nepal]]
| Small; purple gloss restricted to the neck area and sometimes the flanks to the tail-coverts, otherwise glossed green. This is sometimes treated under the name ''S. v. indicus'' given by [[Brian Houghton Hodgson|Hodgson]].{{efn|This form was described by Hodgson as ''S. indicus'' in [[John Edward Gray|Gray]]'s ''Zoological Miscellany'' of 1831, and may have [[Principle of Priority|taxonomic priority]] over ''S. v. humii''.<ref name = gray>Gray (1831) p. 84.</ref><ref name = ripley>Rasmussen & Anderton (2005) p. 583.</ref>}}
|-
! scope="row" | ''S. v. minor''
| Hume, 1873
| [[Pakistan]]
| Small; green gloss restricted to the head and lower belly and back, otherwise glossed purple.
|}

Birds from [[Fair Isle]], [[St Kilda, Scotland|St. Kilda]] and the [[Outer Hebrides]] are intermediate in size between ''S. v. zetlandicus'' and the nominate subspecies, and their subspecies placement varies according to the authority. The dark juveniles typical of these island forms are occasionally found in mainland Scotland and elsewhere, indicating some [[gene flow]] from ''S. v. faroensis'' or ''S. v. zetlandicus'', subspecies formerly considered to be isolated.<ref name= nevesglas>Neves (2005) pp. 63–73.</ref><ref name= parkin>Parkin & Knox (2009) pp. 65, 305–306.</ref>

Several other subspecies have been named, but are generally no longer considered valid. Most are intergrades that occur where the ranges of various subspecies meet. These include: ''S. v. ruthenus'' [[Mikhail Aleksandrovich Menzbier|Menzbier]], 1891 and ''S. v. jitkowi'' Buturlin, 1904, which are intergrades between ''S. v. vulgaris'' and ''S. v. poltaratskyi'' from western Russia; ''S. v. graecus'' [[Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen|Tschusi]], 1905 and ''S. v. balcanicus'' Buturlin and Harms, 1909, which are intergrades between ''S. v. vulgaris'' and ''S. v. tauricus'' from the southern [[Balkans]] to central [[Ukraine]] and throughout Greece to the [[Bosporus]]; and ''S. v. heinrichi'' [[Erwin Stresemann|Stresemann]], 1928, an intergrade between ''S. v. caucasicus'' and ''S. v. nobilior'' in northern Iran. ''S. v. persepolis'' [[Claud Buchanan Ticehurst|Ticehurst]], 1928 from southern Iran's ([[Fars province]]) is very similar to ''S. v. vulgaris'', and it is not clear whether it is a distinct resident population or simply migrants from southeastern Europe.<ref name=vaurie/>