Systematic notes on Asian birds. 7. Black-naped oriole Oriolus chinensis Linnaeus, 1766: some old nomenclatural issues explained

Any exploration of the development of our knowledge of the distribution and nomenclature of the black-naped oriole produces a bewildering complex of names. It is the more complex because the origin of the specimen named Oriolus chinensis Linnaeus, 1766, was disputed. When it was proposed that the origin might be the Philippines this at first seemed to affect the nomenclature in India but not China. A new name then introduced proved to be preoccupied by one that rested on a description that seemed too flawed to be applicable. When it was finally determined that the Chinese breeding population needed a new name, and that this was the form that reached eastern parts of India as a migrant, the name changes proposed met such resistance that for nearly 60 years the names in use, in one or more parts of the range of the species, awaited correction. Today, correctly, the name chinensis is applied as the trinomial of the resident Philippine population and the name diffusus Sharpe, 1877, to breeding Chinese birds which are migratory and just include easternmost India in their winter range.