Documenting Thailand Undiscovered Avian Diversity: Does the Wide – ranging Oriental White – eyes Zosterops palpebrosus Constitute a Species Complex?

Thailand is the pre-eminent Southeast Asian country for birdwatching tourists, who are the main group of ecotourists worldwide (Sekercioglu 2002). More than ten birdwatching tours, organized by US and European commercial companies, visit Thailand each year in addition to several hundred private individuals, in search if new birds for their “Life-Lists”. All of these visitors pay for goods and services (Hvenegaard et al. 1989). A wider appreciation of existing diversity will further contribute to Thailand’s attractiveness to birdwatchers and other nature tourists.The white-eyes (Family Zosteropidae) are a group of small, warbler-like, mostly brush-tongued passeriform birds. The highly diverse genus Zosterops are distributed across the Old World Tropics and evidently underwent a major radiation. Four species of Zosterops are recognized in Thailand but the main focus is on the 3 subspecies of the oriental white-eye (Z. palpebrosus), at least two of which are apparently different in many aspects, particularly in the habitats and some morphological and behavioral characteristics. The use of molecular technology will be employed to evaluate the subspecies of the oriental white-eye.