Whistlers (Pachycephalidae)

Tongan Whistler (Pachycephala jacquinoti) - HBW 12, p. 424

French: Siffleur des Tonga German: Tongadickkopf Spanish: Silbador de Tonga

Taxonomy: Pachycephala jacquinoti Bonaparte, 1850, Vava’u, Tonga.
Listed in some earlier texts as “P. melanops” on mistaken assumption that present scientific name was a nomen nudum. A member of a species group that includes also P. orpheus, P. nudigula, P. meyeri, P. soror, P. lorentzi, P. schlegelii, P. implicata, P. pectoralis, P. caledonica, P. flavifrons, P. melanura and P. aurea. Often considered a race of P. pectoralis. Monotypic.

Distribution: Vava’u Group (‘Uta Vava’u, Kapa, Pangaimotu, ‘Euakafa, ‘Utungake, A’a) and Late I, in N Tonga.