Editing Common iora

{{Short description|Species of small passerine bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Common iora
| image = Common Iora.jpg
| image_caption = Common iora<br/>
[[File:Common Iora.ogg|thumb|Call of Common Iora]]
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 13 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Aegithina tiphia'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T22707433A94123624 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22707433A94123624.en |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Aegithina
| species = tiphia
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| synonyms = ''Motacilla tiphia'' {{small|Linnaeus,&nbsp;1758}}
}}
[[File:Common Iora (ফটিকজল).jpg|thumb|''A. t. multicolor'': female in [[Satchari National Park]], Bangladesh]]
The '''common iora''' ('''''Aegithina tiphia''''') is a small [[passerine]] [[bird]] found across the tropical [[Indian subcontinent]] and [[Southeast Asia]], with populations showing plumage variations, some of which are designated as subspecies. A species found in scrub and forest, it is easily detected from its loud whistles and the bright colours. During the breeding season, males display by fluffing up their feathers and spiral in the air appearing like a green, black, yellow, and white ball.

==Taxonomy==
In 1747 the English naturalist [[George Edwards (naturalist)|George Edwards]] included an illustration and a description of the common iora in the second volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The Green Indian Fly-Catcher". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen that had been sent from Bengal to the silk-pattern designer and naturalist [[Joseph Dandridge]] in London.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Edwards | first=George | author-link=George Edwards (naturalist) | year=1747 | title=A Natural History of Uncommon Birds | location=London | publisher=Printed for the author at the College of Physicians | volume=Part II | page=79, Plate 79 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50240789 }}</ref> When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] updated his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' for the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]], he placed the common iora in the [[genus]] ''[[Motacilla]]''. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the [[binomial name]] ''Motacilla tiphia'' and cited Edwards' work.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=186 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727093 }}</ref> The common iora is now placed in the [[genus]] ''[[Aegithina]]'' that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist [[Louis Pierre Vieillot]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | year=1816 | title=Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire | publisher=Deterville/self |  location=Paris | page = 44 | language=French| url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9745205x/f50.item }}<!--BHL has a scan of an 1883 reprint - same pagination http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12830237 --></ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/weavers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=9 October 2021 }}</ref> The genus name ''Aegithina'' is from [[Ancient Greek]] ''aigithos'' or ''aiginthos'', a mythical bird mentioned by [[Aristotle]] and other classical authors. The etymology of specific epithet ''tiphia'' is uncertain. It may be from the [[Ancient Greek]] ''tuphē'', ''tiara'', from [[Tiphys]] who in [[Greek mythology]] was the [[helmsman]] of the [[Argonauts]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n033/mode/1up 33], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n386/mode/1up 386] }}</ref>

Eleven [[subspecies]] are recognised:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''A. t. multicolor'' ([[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin, JF]], 1789) – southwest India and Sri Lanka
* ''A. t. deignani'' [[Pat Hall|Hall, BP]], 1957 – south, east India and north, central Myanmar
* ''A. t. humei'' [[E. C. Stuart Baker|Baker, ECS]], 1922 – central peninsular India
* ''A. t. tiphia'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – north India to west Myanmar
* ''A. t. septentrionalis'' [[Walter Koelz|Koelz]], 1939 – northwest Himalayas
* ''A. t. philipi'' [[Émile Oustalet|Oustalet]], 1886 – south-central China, east Myanmar, north Thailand and north, central Indochina
* ''A. t. cambodiana'' Hall, BP, 1957 – southeast Thailand, Cambodia and south Vietnam
* ''A. t. horizoptera'' [[Harry C. Oberholser|Oberholser]], 1912 – southeast Myanmar and southwest Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and nearby islands
* ''A. t. scapularis'' ([[Thomas Horsfield|Horsfield]], 1821) – Java and Bali
* ''A. t. viridis'' ([[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]], 1850) – central, south Borneo
* ''A. t. aequanimis'' [[Outram Bangs|Bangs]], 1922 – north Borneo and west Philippines

==Description==
Ioras have a pointed and notched beak with a culmen that is straight. The common iora is sexually dimorphic, males in the breeding season have a black cap and back adding to a black wing and tail at all seasons. Females have greenish wings and an olive tail. The undersides of both are yellow and the two white bars on the wings of the male are particularly prominent in their breeding plumage. The males in breeding plumage have a very variable distribution of the black on the upperparts and can be confused with [[Marshall's iora]], however, the latter always has white tips to the tail.<ref name=pcr>{{cite book|author1=Rasmussen PC |author2=JC Anderton |year=2005| title= Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volume 2|publisher=Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions|pages=344–346}}</ref> The nominate subspecies is found along the Himalayas and males of this population are very similar to females or have only a small amount of black on the crown. In northwestern India, ''septentrionalis'' is brighter yellow than others and in the northern plains of India ''humei'' males in breeding plumage have a black cap and olive on the upper mantle. In southwestern India and Sri Lanka ''multicolor'' has the breeding males with a jet black cap and mantle. The forms in the rest of southern India are intermediate between ''multicolor'' and ''humei'' with more grey-green on the rump (formerly considered as ''deignani'' but now used for the Burmese population).<ref name=pcr/><ref name=fbi2>{{cite book|pages=339–343|url=https://archive.org/stream/faunaofbritishin01bake#page/339/mode/1up|author=Baker, ECS|title=Fauna of British India. Birds. Volume 1| publisher=Taylor and Francis, London|year=1922|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Wells, D.R.|author2=E.C. Dickinson|author3=R.W.R.J. Dekker|name-list-style=amp| title= Systematic notes on Asian birds. 34. A preliminary review of the Aegithinidae|journal=Zool. Verh. Leiden |volume=344| year=2003|pages= 7–15|url=http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/46744}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Dickinson, E.C. |author2=R.W.R.J. Dekker |author3=S. Eck |author4=S. Somadikarta |name-list-style=amp |title=Systematic notes on Asian birds. 35. Types of the Aegithinidae |journal=Zool. Verh. Leiden |volume=344 |year=2003 |pages=17–24 |url=http://www.naturalis.nl/sites/naturalis.en/contents/i000308/snab035.pdf |access-date=2010-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026003824/http://www.naturalis.nl//sites/naturalis.en/contents/i000308/snab035.pdf |archive-date=2007-10-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Yellow Bird India.jpg|thumb|Common Iora, Male, Pune]]
Several other populations across Southeast Asia are designated as subspecies including ''philipi'' of southern China and northern Thailand/Laos, ''deignani'' of Myanmar, ''horizoptera'' of southern Myanmar and the island chain of Sumatra, ''cambodiana'' of Cambodia, ''aeqanimis'' of Palawan and northern Borneo, ''viridis'' of Borneo and ''scapularis'' of Java and Bali.<ref>{{cite book|pages=300–302|url=https://archive.org/stream/checklistofbirds91960pete#page/300/mode/1up/|title=Check-list of the birds of the world. Volume 9|editor=Mayr E|editor2=JC Greenway|editor-link=Ernst Mayr|editor2-link=James Greenway|year=1960|publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology, Massachusetts}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Marien, D |year=1952| title= The systematics of ''Aegithina nigrolutea'' and ''Aegithina tiphia'' (Aves, Irenidae)| journal= Am. Mus. Novit.|volume=1589|pages=1–17| hdl=2246/4066}}</ref>

==Behaviour and ecology==
Ioras forage in trees in small groups, gleaning among the branches for insects. They sometimes join mixed species feeding flocks. The call is a mixture of ''churrs'', chattering and whistles, and the song is a trilled ''wheeeee-tee''. They may sometimes imitate the calls of other birds such as drongos.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Mimicry by common Iora ''Aegithina tiphia''|author=Bharos, A. M. K.|journal=J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|year=1998|volume=95| issue=1| page=116|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48604636}}</ref>
[[File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad W IMG 8863.jpg|thumb|left|''A. t. multicolor'': male in [[Hyderabad, India]]]]
During the breeding season, mainly after the monsoons, the male performs an acrobatic courtship display, darting up into the air fluffing up all his feathers, especially those on the pale green rump, then spiralling down to the original perch. Once he lands, he spreads his tail and droops his wings.<ref name=fbi2/> Two to four greenish white eggs are laid in a small and compact cup-shaped nest made out of grass and bound with cobwebs and placed in the fork of a tree. Both male and female incubate<ref>{{cite journal|author=Wesley, H Daniel |year=1984| title= Frequency and duration of incubation of the eggs for ''Aegithina tiphia''| journal=J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. |volume=81|issue=1|pages=193–195|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48874101}}</ref> and eggs hatch after about 14 days. Nests predators include snakes, lizards, crow-pheasant and crows.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ali, S |year=1931| title= Casualties among the eggs and young of small birds|journal=J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=34|issue=4|pages=1062–1067|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48294439}}</ref> Nests may also be brood-parasitized by the [[banded bay cuckoo]].<ref name=hbk>{{cite book|author1=Ali, S  |author2=SD Ripley|pages=47–54|title=Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 6|edition=2nd|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

Ioras moult twice in a year and the plumage variation makes them somewhat complicated for plumage based separation of the populations.<ref name=hbk/>

A species of ''[[Haemoproteus]]'', ''H. aethiginae'', was described from a specimen of the common iora from Goa.<ref>{{cite journal|author= de Mello, I.
|title= New hæmoproteids of some Indian birds
| journal= Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Section B
| year=1935|volume=2|issue=5|pages=469–475|doi=10.1007/BF03053034
|s2cid= 82402365
}}</ref>

<gallery perrow="6">
File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad W IMG 8862.jpg|''A. t. multicolor'': male calling in [[Hyderabad, India]].
File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad W IMG 5622.jpg|''A. t. multicolor'': female in Hyderabad
File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad W IMG 5618.jpg|''A. t. multicolor'': female in Hyderabad
File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Narshapur, AP W IMG 1144.jpg|''A. t. multicolor'': female in [[Narsapur, Medak district]], India
Image:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Hyderabad, AP W2 IMG 9809.jpg|''A. t. multicolor'': male in Hyderabad
File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) in Kawal, AP W IMG 1517.jpg|''A. t. multicolor'': female in Narsapur
File:Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) calling W IMG_7709.jpg|''A. t. multicolor'': male calling in [[Shamirpet]], [[Rangareddy district]], [[Andhra Pradesh]], India
Image:Aegithina tiphia-20080910.jpg|Adult breeding male, [[Singapore]]
Image:Aegithina tiphia-20080910B.jpg|Adult breeding male, Singapore
Image:Common Iora scientific name Aegithina tiphia by Sumita Roy Dutta at Sajnekhali Bird Sanctuary IMG 8289.jpg|Common Iora: female at [[Sajnakhali Wildlife Sanctuary]]
</gallery>

<gallery perrow="4" widths="180" heights="170" caption="Museum specimens for subspecies at Naturalis">
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.92893 1 - Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922 - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922'', male
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.92893 2 - Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922 - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922'', male, same specimen
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.92894 1 - Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922 - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922'', female
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.92894 2 - Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922 - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia aequanimis Bangs, 1922'', female, same specimen
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.126754 1 - Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789) - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789)'', male
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.126754 2 - Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789) - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789)'', male, same specimen
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.126760 1 - Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789) - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789)'', female
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.126760 2 - Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789) - Irenidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|''Aegithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin, 1789)'', female, same specimen
</gallery>
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== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=6147&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet]
* [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/common-iora-aegithina-tiphia Common Iora videos, photos & sounds] on the Internet Bird Collection
* {{cite journal |author1=F. N. Chasen |author2=C. Boden Kloss |year=1931 |title=Five New Malaysian Birds |journal=Bulletin of the Raffles Museum |volume=5 |url=https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/app/uploads/2017/06/05brm082-086.pdf |pages=82–86}}, describing ''Aegithina tiphia singapurensis'', now considered a synonym of ''Aegithina tiphia horizoptera''

{{Taxonbar|from=Q26537}}

[[Category:Aegithinidae]]
[[Category:Birds of Indomalaya]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]