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1929 Tamil Nadu Specimen Designated Neotype for Black Drongo

Black drongo perched on a branch in Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary
Research · Evolution & taxonomy

A taxonomic study published on 5 March 2026 designated a museum specimen collected in Tamil Nadu, India in 1929 as the neotype of black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus). The designation fixes the scientific name to the taxonomic concept that ornithologists currently understand as black drongo.

The name Dicrurus macrocercus was introduced by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1817, based on François Levaillant’s earlier description and illustration of a bird called “Le Drongolon”. The authors could not locate surviving original type material directly linked to Levaillant in the collections they investigated.

A specimen from Kambam Valley now anchors the name

Hein van Grouw and Jiří Mlíkovský therefore designated specimen NHMUK 1949.Whi.1.2295 in the Natural History Museum, Tring, as the neotype. It is an adult male collected by Vivian Stanley La Personne in Kambam Valley, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, on 11 December 1929.

The specimen has a wing length of 139 mm, a tail length of 154 mm and a tail fork of 59 mm. The authors state that assigning a neotype was necessary to remove historical uncertainty over which drongo the name macrocercus should apply to.

The same specimen also fixes an older synonym

The paper also discusses Dicrurus indicus Stephens, 1826, another name based on Levaillant’s “Le Drongolon”. The same museum specimen was designated as neotype for that name as well, keeping both names tied to the established taxonomic concept and preserving nomenclatural stability.

A neotype does not create a new species or change the biology of black drongo. It provides a physical reference specimen for a scientific name when the original name-bearing material is lost or cannot be identified. In this case, the 2026 designation gives Dicrurus macrocercus an unambiguous museum reference after more than two centuries of taxonomic history.

Sources and image credit

  1. van Grouw, H., & Mlíkovský, J. (2026). Taxonomic identities of Phasianus melanocephalus J. E. Gray, 1829, Dicrurus cathoecus Swinhoe, 1871, D. macrocercus Vieillot, 1817, and D. indicus Stephens, 1826, fixed through designation of lectotypes and neotypes held in the Natural History Museum, Tring. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, 146(1), 85–98. https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v146i1.2026.a7Primary taxonomic article published in Bulletin 146(1) on 5 March 2026. It designates NHMUK 1949.Whi.1.2295, an adult male collected in Kambam Valley, Tamil Nadu, on 11 December 1929, as neotype for Dicrurus macrocercus and also D. indicus to stabilise the established nomenclature.
  2. British Ornithologists’ Club. (2026). Bulletin 146. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. https://boc-online.org/bulletin/bulletin-index/bulletin-146Official issue index confirming 5 March 2026 as the publication date for Bulletin 146(1), which contains the van Grouw and Mlíkovský paper on pages 85–98.

Image: Tisha Mukherjee — black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) in Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha, India, photographed 9 January 2025; Wikimedia Commons; representative species image, not the 1929 neotype specimen discussed in the paper · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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