Flowerpeckers (Dicaeidae)

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker (Dicaeum ignipectus) - HBW 13, p. 387

French: Dicée à gorge feu German: Feuerbrust-Mistelfresser Spanish: Picaflores Pechofuego
Other common names: Buff-bellied Flowerpecker, Fire-throated/Scarlet-breasted/Green-backed/Bronze-backed Flowerpecker; Cambodian Flowerpecker (cambodianum); Sumatran Flowerpecker (beccarii); Luzon Flowerpecker (luzoniense)

Taxonomy: Myzanthe ignipectus Blyth, 1843, Nepal and Bhutan.
Forms a superspecies with D. monticolum, D. celebicum, D. sanguinolentum and D. hirundinaceum; all sometimes treated as conspecific. Has hybridized with D. cruentatum in SE China (Fujian). Some races, e.g. beccarii, distinctive and possibly approaching species level, but linked to other races through intermediate forms. Race formosum somewhat variable, not well differentiated from nominate and possibly better merged with it. Other proposed races are pulchellum (described from Lushai Hills, in Assam) and cyanonotum (from Ichang, in Hubei, China), both subsumed in nominate, and vanheysti (from Brastagi, in N Sumatra), merged with beccarii; umbratile (from Kao Kuap, in SE Thailand) is a synonym of cambodianum. Birds on Panay (Mt Madja-as), in Philippines, apparently belong to an as yet undescribed race. Eight subspecies currently recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

ignipectus (Blyth, 1843) - Himalayas from Kashmir E to NE India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam S to Mizo Hills), SE Bangladesh, and S & SE China (S Shaanxi S to SE Xizang, Yunnan, Hainan, Guangdong and Fujian) S to Myanmar, N Thailand, Laos, Vietnam (except C Annam and Cochinchina) and E Cambodia (Phumi Dak area).
formosum Ogilvie-Grant, 1912 - Taiwan.
dolichorhynchum Deignan, 1938 - Malay Peninsula.

See all 8 subspecies

ignipectus (Blyth, 1843) - Himalayas from Kashmir E to NE India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam S to Mizo Hills), SE Bangladesh, and S & SE China (S Shaanxi S to SE Xizang, Yunnan, Hainan, Guangdong and Fujian) S to Myanmar, N Thailand, Laos, Vietnam (except C Annam and Cochinchina) and E Cambodia (Phumi Dak area).
formosum Ogilvie-Grant, 1912 - Taiwan.
dolichorhynchum Deignan, 1938 - Malay Peninsula.
cambodianum Delacour & Jabouille, 1928 - SE Thailand and Cambodia.
beccarii Robinson & Kloss, 1916 - N to WC Sumatra.
luzoniense Ogilvie-Grant, 1894 - N & C Luzon (N Philippines).
bonga E. J. O. Hartert, 1904 - Samar (EC Philippines).
apo E. J. O. Hartert, 1904 - Negros and Mindanao (Mt Malindang, Mt Kitanglad, Mt Hilong-Hilong, Mt Apo, Mt Puting Bato), in S Philippines.