Puerto Rican Oriole

Notes

Monotypic species.

Formerly considered conspecific with Bahama, Cuban, and Hispaniolan Orioles, collectively known as the Greater Antillean Oriole (Icterus dominicensis).  At other times, Greater Antillean was considered conspecific with the Black-cowled Oriole (Icterus prosthemelas) of Central America, collectively known as the Black-cowled Oriole (Icterus dominicensis).  The basis for lumping all of these forms together was never strong.  The adults are visually distinct and have different songs, and the immature and intermediate plumages are even more visually distinct.

Genetic studies have confirmed that most members of this group are more closely related to other species than they are to one another: the Central American Black-cowled is more closely related to Orchard Oriole; Puerto Rican is more closely related to the three Lesser Antillean orioles (Montserrat, Martinique, and St. Lucia); and Hispaniolan is most closely related to the combined Puerto Rican and Lesser Antillean group.  Among the five species formerly lumped together as the “Black-cowled Oriole,” only Cuban and Bahama are a close phyletic pair, although ironically these are the most different from one another visually: Cuban being the blackest and Bahama the yellowest.