Black-eared catbird

The black-eared catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis) is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found northern Queensland and New Guinea, including its surrounding islands. They are named after their cat-like wails and black ear spot. It is described by its Latin name: ailur-cat, oidos-singing, melas-black and otus-ear.[2]

Black-eared catbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Ptilonorhynchidae
Genus: Ailuroedus
Species:
A. melanotis
Binomial name
Ailuroedus melanotis
GR Gray, 1858
Subspecies

See text

Until 2016, A. melanotis was given the English common name of spotted catbird, this name has now been reassigned to A. maculosus. Martin Irestedt and colleagues examined the black-eared, spotted- and green catbird species complex genetically and found there were seven distinct lineages: the green catbird (A. crassirostris) of eastern Australia and the spotted catbird (A. maculosus) of eastern Queensland being the earliest offshoots, followed by the Huon catbird (A. astigmaticus) and black-capped catbird (A. melanocephalus) of eastern New Guinea, the Arfak catbird (A. arfakianus) of the Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula, the northern catbird (A. jobiensis) of central-northern New Guinea, and black-eared catbird (A.melanotis) of southwestern New Guinea, Aru Islands and far North Queensland.[3] These latter six species were all formerly subspecies before being split from A. melanotis.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized:[4]

  • Ailuroedus melanotis facialis – Mayr, 1936: found on southern slopes of montane west-central New Guinea
  • Ailuroedus melanotis melanotis – Gray, 1858: found on lowland south-central New Guinea and Aru Islands
  • Ailuroedus melanotis joanae – Mathews, 1941: found on eastern Cape York Peninsula (northeastern Australia)

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Ailuroedus melanotis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Lederer, R. and Burr, C. 2014. Latin for Birdwatchers. – Allen & Unwin.
  3. Irestedt, Martin; Batalha-Filho, Henrique; Roselaar, Cees S.; Christidis, Les; Ericson, Per G. P. "Contrasting phylogeographic signatures in two Australo-Papuan bowerbird species complexes (Aves: Ailuroedus)". Zoologica Scripta. doi:10.1111/zsc.12163.
  4. IOC v.6.3
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