The white-bellied whipbird (Psophodes leucogaster), also called the Mallee whipbird, is a species of bird in the family Psophodidae. It is endemic to southern Australia. It had not been seen or heard in Victoria for 40 years until 2022 when a recording of its song was made in Big Desert Wilderness Park.[1]
| White-bellied whipbird | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Psophodidae |
| Genus: | Psophodes |
| Species: | P. leucogaster
|
| Binomial name | |
| Psophodes leucogaster Howe & Ross, JA, 1933
| |
Taxonomy
editThe species was formerly considered as a subspecies of Psophodes nigrogularis, so shared the common name of "western whipbird". The Clements Checklist refers to this species with the common name western whipbird (white-bellied) to distinguish it from P. nigrogularis (black-throated).[2]
The white-bellied whipbird was described by the Australian ornithologists Frank Howe and John Ross in 1933.[3] It was split from the black-throated whipbird (formerly the western whipbird) based on a comparison of mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2017.[4]
Two subspecies are recognised:[5]
- P. l. leucogaster Howe & Ross, JA, 1933 – south central Australia
- P. l. lashmari Mason, IJ & Schodde, 1991 – Kangaroo Island
References
edit- ^ Carthy, Courtney (2022). "Endangered bird rediscovered in Victoria". Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Clements Checklist: Updates & Corrections – August 2017 | Clements Checklist". www.birds.cornell.edu. Cornell University. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ Howe, Frank Ernest; Ross, John Alexander (1933). "On the occurrence of Psophodes nigrogularis in Victoria". Emu. 32 (3): 133–148 [147]. doi:10.1071/mu932133.
- ^ Burbidge, A.H.; Joseph, L.; Toon, A.; White, L.C.; McGuire, A.; Austin, J.J. (2017). "A case for realigning species limits in the southern Australian whipbirds long recognised as the Western Whipbird (Psophodes nigrogularis)". Emu. 117 (3): 254–263. doi:10.1080/01584197.2017.1313685. S2CID 90267260.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Australasian babblers, logrunners, satinbirds, painted berrypeckers, wattlebirds, whipbirds". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved July 4, 2018.