The genus
Sturnia was introduced in 1837 by the French naturalist
René Lesson. He designated the
type species as
Pastor elegans Lesson, 1834. This is a
junior synonym of
Oriolus sinensis Gmelin, 1778, the
white-shouldered starling. The genus name is from
Latin sturnus meaning "starling". The old genus' placement with the starlings was found to be polyphyletic, resulting in changes in the placement. A 2008 study places the following species within this genus: The genus contains five species: Former taxonomic treatments have included: •
White-faced starling,
Sturnia albofrontata (now
Sturnornis albofrontatus). •
Daurian starling,
Sturnia sturnina (now
Agropsar sturninus). •
Chestnut-cheeked starling,
Sturnia philippensis (now
Agropsar philippensis). If the first of these was to be included in
Sturnia, it seems highly warranted also to include the
monotypic genera
Leucopsar (Bali myna) and
Fregilupus (hoopoe starling), and perhaps the enigmatic
Necropsar (Rodrigues starling), in
Sturnia. On the other hand, if these distinct genera are maintained, the white-faced starling would then receive its own genus,
Sturnornis. The other two would better be dealt with by resurrecting
Agropsar, either as a distinct genus or as a subgenus of
Gracupica, which otherwise includes the
black-collared starling (
"Sturnus" nigricollis) and the
pied mynas (
Gracupica spp.); these four form a robust and ancient group of two
sister species that is perhaps even closer to the
wattled starling (
Creatophpora cinerea) than to the genus
Sturnus. Their similarity to
Sturnia proper is probably simply a
symplesiomorphy. ==References==