Tenerife goldcrest
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The Tenerife goldcrest (Regulus regulus teneriffae) is a subspecies of the goldcrest. It closely resembles the continental subspecies, but has a broader black band across the forehead, slightly darker underparts and a longer bill. It breeds in the Canary Islands of Tenerife and La Gomera, where it is a non-migratory resident. It prefers Canary Island Pine forests, but also occurs in laurisilva forests. It is sometimes considered a species in its own right, as Regulus teneriffae.
The populations on La Palma and El Hierro, previously thought to belong to this taxon, are now recognized as, at least, a distinct subspecies, the Western Canary Islands goldcrest R. r. ellenthalerae (Päckert et al., 2006), which evolved from an independent colonisation of the islands.
References
- Template:Cite iucn Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Päckert, Martin; Dietzen, Christian; Martens, Jochen; Wink, Michael & Kvist, Laura: Radiation of Atlantic goldcrests Regulus regulus spp.: evidence of a new taxon from the Canary Islands. Journal of Avian Biology 37(4): 364–380. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1111/j.2006.0908-8857.03533.x HTML abstract Electronic Appendices