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 and Garnot, 1827) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Cracticus quoyi |
|
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 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).
The adult is black all over except for its beak which is black-tipped grey. The juvenile is rufous-brown.
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Wikipedia