Black butcherbird

Black butcherbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Artamidae
Genus: Melloria
(Mathews, 1912)
Species: M. quoyi
Binomial name
Melloria quoyi
(Lesson & Garnot, 1827)
Synonyms

Cracticus quoyi

The black butcherbird (Melloria quoyi) is a species of butcherbird in the family Artamidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest.

Cairns Centenary Lakes - Australia

Evidence was published in a 2013 molecular study which showed that it was the sister taxon to the Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen). The ancestor to the two species is thought to have split from the other butcherbirds between 8.3 and 4.2 million years ago, during the late Miocene to early Pliocene, while the two species themselves diverged sometime during the Pliocene (5.8–3.0 million years ago).[2]

Description

The adult is black all over except for its beak which is black-tipped grey. The juvenile is rufous-brown.[3]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Melloria quoyi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Kearns, Anna; Joseph, Leo; Cook, Lyn G. (2013). "A Multilocus Coalescent Analysis of the Speciational History of the Australo-Papuan Butcherbirds and their Allies". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 66 (3): 941–52. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.11.020. PMID 23219707.
  3. ↑ Morcombe, Michael (2004). Field guide to Australian birds. Steve Parish Publishing.


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