Could John Youngs bird just be the previously unknown plumage for adult male
coxeni. Not a new taxa but a new plumage. The current description for coxeni
adults is based on specimens which look incredibly like subadult males to
me. The female specimen was not surgically sexed but based on apparently
slightly less colourful face markings. Could all of the specimens be
subadult males and John's bird be the first described adult male? Marshalli
has a red face, maclayana has red cheeks and a red forehead, it would appear
logical to me that coxeni then be reduced to red cheeks only. The blue was
there all along and just increasingly revealed in each subspecies as the red
is taken away. Seems a more likely possibility to me than a fourth taxa.
Cheers Jeff Davies.
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