Metallic Starling

The metallic starling (Aplonis metallica), also known as the shining starling, is a bird in the starling family native to the Moluccas, New Guinea, Queensland and the Solomon Islands. == Taxonomy == The metallic starling was formally described and illustrated as Lamprotornis metallicus in 1824 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. He mistakenly specified the locality as Timor and Celebres but this has been corrected to the island of Ambon in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The metallic starling is now one of 24 starlings placed in the genus Aplonis that was introduced in 1836 by the English ornithologist John Gould. Five subspecies are recognised: A. m. metallica (Temminck, CJ, 1824) – Moluccas, Sula Islands, New Guinea including Aru Islands, and northeastern Australia (Cape York Peninsula southward to Sarina, northern Queensland) A. m. nitida (Gray, GR, 1858) – Admiralty Islands (Rambutyo, Tong, and outer Islands), Bismarck Archipelago, and Solomon Islands A. m. purpureiceps (Salvadori, AT, 1878) – Admiralty Islands (Manus Island and Los Negros Islands) A. m. inornata (Salvadori, AT, 1881) – Numfor and Biak (Cenderawasih Bay, off northwestern New Guinea) A. m. circumscripta (Meyer, AB, 1884) – Tanimbar Islands (Larat and Kirimoen) and Damar Island The subspecies A.…