Black butcherbird

Black butcherbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Artamidae
Genus: Cracticus
Species: C. quoyi
Binomial name
Cracticus quoyi
(Lesson, 1827)

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

Evidence was published in a 2013 molecular study which showed that it was the sister taxon to the Australian magpie (C. 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). "Cracticus 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.
  3. ↑ Morcombe, Michael (2004). Field guide to Australian birds. Steve Parish Publishing.
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