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Ailuroedus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Ptilonorhynchidae
Genus: Ailuroedus
Cabanis, 1851
Type species
Ptilonorhynchus smithii[1]
Vigors & Horsfield, 1827
Species

see text

Ailuroedus is a genus of birds in the bowerbird family, Ptilonorhynchidae, native to forests in Australia and New Guinea. The common name, catbird, refers to these species' "wailing cat-like calls".[2] The scientific name Ailuroedus is derived from the Greek 'ailouros', meaning cat, and 'eidos', referring to form (or perhaps from oaidos, singer).[3][4]

Description

Catbirds are characterize by ivory-colored bill with the hooked maxilla, large head, green dorsal plumage, ventral spotting, powerful grasping claws and fig-eating habit.[5]

In contrast to the other genera within the Ptilonorhynchidae family, all of the Ailuroedus catbirds lack marked sexual dimorphism, are pair bonded, monogamous breeders, with both parents caring for the offspring.[2][4] They form pair bonds in which the male helps to build the nest, and have simple arboreal chasing displays, without bowers or stages.[4]

Taxonomy

Traditionally, the Ailuroedus catbirds were classified as three species. However, a phylogenetic and morphological paper by Irestedt et al. [6](2015). revealed seven new species, leading to a total of ten distinct species.[6] In the same study, the results confirm that the catbirds are divided into two major clades, a lowland group consisting of the New Guinean white-eared catbird, and a mid-mountain clade including the black-eared catbird and the Australian green catbird.[6]

Spotted catbird, Queensland.

Species

References

  1. ^ "Ptilorhynchidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ a b Rowland, Peter (2008). Bowerbirds. CSIRO Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-643-09420-8. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  3. ^ Morris 1898, [1].
  4. ^ a b c Gregory, Phil (2020). Birds of Paradise and Bowerbirds: An Identification Guide. Princeton University Press. p. 323. ISBN 9780691202143.
  5. ^ Beehler, Bruce McPherson; Pratt, Thane K. (2016). Birds of New Guinea: distribution, taxonomy, and systematics. Princeton (N.J.): Princeton university press. ISBN 978-0-691-16424-3.
  6. ^ a b c Irestedt, Martin; Batalha-Filho, Henrique; Roselaar, Cees S.; Christidis, Les; Ericson, Per G. P. (2016). "Contrasting phylogeographic signatures in two Australo-Papuan bowerbird species complexes (Aves: Ailuroedus)". Zoologica Scripta. 45 (4): 365–379. doi:10.1111/zsc.12163. S2CID 85899118.
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