Genus of birds
Sturnia is a genus of Asian birds in the starling family Sturnidae. It is sometimes merged with "Sturnus".
Taxonomy.
The genus "Sturnia" was introduced in 1837 by the French naturalist René Lesson. He designated the type species as "Pastor elegans" Lesson, 1834. This is a junior synonym of "Oriolus sinensis" Gmelin, 1778, the white-shouldered starling. The genus name is from Latin "sturnus" meaning "starling".
The old genus' placement with the starlings was found to be polyphyletic, resulting in changes in the placement. A 2008 study places the following species within this genus:
The genus contains five species:
Former taxonomic treatments have included:
If the first of these is included, it seems highly warranted to include in "Sturnia" also the monotypic genera "Leucopsar" (Bali myna) and "Fregilupus" (hoopoe starling), and perhaps the enigmatic "Necropsar" (Rodrigues starling). On the other hand, if these distinct genera are maintained, the white-faced starling would then receive its own genus, "Sturnornis".
The other two would better be dealt with by resurrecting "Agropsar", either as a distinct genus or as a subgenus of "Gracupica", which otherwise includes the black-collared starling (""Sturnus" nigricollis") and pied mynas (""Gracupica sp." "); these four form a robust and ancient group of two sister species that is perhaps even closer to the wattled starling ("Creatophpora cinerea") than to the actual genus "Sturnus". Their similarity to "Sturnia" proper is probably simply a symplesiomorphy.
References.
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