Ethiopian oriole

{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{speciesbox | image = OriolusMenelikiKeulemans.jpg | image2 = Oriolus monacha - Sandra Keller - 29409576.jpeg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 16 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Oriolus monacha'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T22706415A94068649 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22706415A94068649.en |access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Oriolus | species = monacha | authority = (Gmelin, JF, 1789) | synonyms = * ''Turdus monacha'' }}

The '''Ethiopian oriole''' ('''''Oriolus monacha''''') is a species of bird in the family Oriolidae.

It is found in north-eastern Africa where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.

==Taxonomy== The Ethiopian oriole was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus ''Turdus'' and coined the binomial name ''Turdus monacha''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=824 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656319 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1962 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=15 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=132 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14485505 }}</ref> The specific epithet ''monacha'' is from Late Latin ''monachus'' meaning "monk".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=258 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n258/mode/1up }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on "Le Moloxita" or "La religieuse d'Abissinie" that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon in his multi-volume ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1775 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=3 | location=Paris | publisher=De l'Imprimerie Royale | pages=405–406 | chapter=Le Moloxita | language=French | chapter-url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k10697127/f481.item }}</ref> The Ethiopian oriole is now one of 30 orioles placed in the genus ''Oriolus'' that was introduced in 1766 by Linnaeus.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2023 | title=Orioles, drongos, fantails | work=IOC World Bird List Version 13.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/orioles/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=14 April 2023 }}</ref> Other common names include dark-headed or black-headed forest oriole and Abyssinian oriole.<ref>{{ cite book | last1=Walther | first1=B.A. | last2=Jones | first2=P.J. | year=2008 | chapter=Family Sittidae (Nuthatches) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Christie | editor3-first=D.A. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=13: Penduline-tits to Shrikes | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=978-84-96553-45-3 | pages=692–731 [728] | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0013unse/page/728/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}</ref>

===Subspecies=== Two subspecies are recognized:<ref name=ioc/> * ''Oriolus monacha meneliki'' Blundell and Lovat, 1899 – Originally described as a separate species. Found in southern Ethiopia * ''Oriolus monacha monacha'' (Gmelin, 1789) – Found in northern Ethiopia, Eritrea

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Orioles Category:Oriolus Category:Ethiopian Highlands endemic bird fauna Category:Birds described in 1789 Category:Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot