Subspecies
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(1) Cyanistes caeruleus caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758)
(2) Cyanistes caeruleus balearicus Jordans, 1913)
(3) Cyanistes caeruleus calamensis (Parrot, 1908)
(4) Cyanistes caeruleus obscurus (Prazak, 1894)
(5) Cyanistes caeruleus ogliastrae (E. J. O. Hartert, 1905)
(6) Cyanistes caeruleus orientalis Zarudny et Loudon, 1905
(7) Cyanistes caeruleus persicus (Blanford, 1873)
(8) Cyanistes caeruleus raddei (Zarudny, 1908)
(9) Cyanistes caeruleus satunini Zarudny, 1908
The status of the populations of the Canary islands is unclear. Many
authors regard them as a separate species Cyanistes teneriffae (with 4
subspecies). However, based on plumage coloration there are clearly very
close relationships between the forms of the Canary Islands and the
north African forms ultramarinus and cyrenaicae. Indeed, the analysis of
cytochrome b sequence similarity by Salzburger et al. (2002), and the analysis of nuclear genes by Johansson et al. (2013)
strongly suggest that at least ultramarinus should be regarded as a subspecies
of a species teneriffae rather than of a species caeruleus.
Nevertheless, most authors who recognize teneriffae as a separate
species nevertheless retain ultramarinus (and cyrenaicae) as subspecies
of caeruleus. This is inconsistent with the available evidence; I
therefore follow Salzburger et al. (2002) and Johansson et al. (2013) and assign the north African taxa to the Canary taxa in a separate species Cyanistes teneriffae:
(1) Cyanistes teneriffae teneriffae (Lesson, 1831)
(2) Cyanistes teneriffae cyrenaicae (E. J. O. Hartert, 1922)
(3) Cyanistes teneriffae degener (E. J. O. Hartert, 1901)
(4) Cyanistes teneriffae palmensis (Meade-Waldo, 1889)
(5) Cyanistes teneriffae ombriosus (Meade-Waldo, 1890)
(6) Cyanistes teneriffae ultramarinus (Bonaparte, 1841)
 
Above: Specimens of Cyanistes teneriffae teneriffae photographed on October 12, 2008 in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, Spain.
Of all these forms of Cyanistes caeruleus and Cyanistes teneriffae only
the nominate subspecies of Cyanistes caeruleus is recorded from Germany.
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Synonyms
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Synonymy of Cyanistes caeruleus caeruleus:
Parus caeruleus Linnaeus, 1758
Parus caeruleus caeruleus Linnaeus, 1758
Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Cyanistes caeruleus caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Parus coeruleus pallidus Grote, 1902 (nec Brehm, 1856) (junior primary homonym)
Parus coeruleus languidus Grote, 1904
Parus caeruleus touraudericus Bacmeister et Kleinschmidt, 1920
Parus caeruleus asciburgius Floericke, 1921
Parus caeruleus flueckigeri Harrison, 1945
Parus coeruleus auct. (unjustified emendation)
Cyanistes coeruleus auct. (unjustified emendation)
Note: for an explanation of the status of Parus and other (sub)genera, see Parus major.
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Identification
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No information has been entered yet.
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Distribution
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No information has been entered yet.
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Biology
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No information has been entered yet.
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Juvenile. Specimen photographed in Uppsala (Sweden) on June 12, 2008.
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