The Indian pied myna was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Sturnus contra. Linnaeus based his description on the "Contra, from Bengall" that had been described and illustrated in 1738 by Eleazar Albin and the "Black and White Indian Starling" that had been described and illustrated in 1751 by George Edwards. Albin believed that "contra" was the Bengali word for this species, but this name was not known in the 19th century. Linnaeus specified the type locality as India but this was restricted to Calcutta by the British ornithologist E. C. Stuart Baker in 1921. In the past the Indian pied myna has been included in the genera Sturnus and Sturnopastor but based on results from molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2008 it is now placed in the resurrected genus Gracupica that had been introduced in 1831 by the French naturalist René Lesson.
Two subspecies are recognised:
G. c. contra (Linnaeus, 1758) – east Pakistan, north, central, India, south Nepal and Bangladesh (includes sordida)
G. c. superciliaris (Blyth, 1863) – Manipur (northeast India), north, central, southeast Myanmar and southwest China
It is found mainly along the Gangetic plains extending south into Andhra Pradesh and east to Bangladesh. The population in northeastern India (Sadiya to Tirap and the Naga Hills) was named as sordida (originally Sturnus contra sordidus) by Sidney Dillon Ripley in 1950. This form differs from the Indian form in having reduced streaking on the shoulders and nape. The populations in Manipur south to Myanmar and east to Yunnan have the white extending over the eye and are included in the subspecies superciliaris first described by Edward Blyth in 1863.
A 2021 study found that G. contra represents a species complex of 3 distinct species: the Indian pied myna (G. contra sensu stricto) from most of the Indian Subcontinent, Myanmar, and Yunnan in China, with subspecies sordida and superciliaris; the monotypic Siamese pied myna (G. floweri) from Thailand and Cambodia, and the monotypic possibly extinct in the wild Javan pied myna(G. jalla), historically known from Java and Bali in Indonesia. G. jalla was likely driven to extinction in the wild due to the illegal songbird trade becoming increasingly pervasive in Indonesia, and in captivity it is likely threatened by hybridization with captured individuals of mainland pied myna species. It has been recommended to search for genetically pure members of the species in the wildlife trade for the purpose of captive breeding; a potential captive population of pure G. jalla exists at Bali Bird Park.
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