Grallina Explained

Grallina is a genus of passerine bird native to Australia and New Guinea. It is a member of a group of birds termed monarch flycatchers.

Taxonomy

Higher taxonomy

Long thought to be a member of the mudnest builder family Corcoracidae, the magpie-lark and torrent lark have been reclassified in the family Monarchidae (the monarch flycatchers). The two make up a lineage that split off early from other monarchs and has no close relatives within the family.^[1]

The monarch flycatchers are considered either as a subfamily Monarchinae, together with the fantails as part of the drongo family Dicruridae,^[2] or as a family Monarchidae in its own right.^[3] More broadly, they belong to the Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, fairy-wrens and honeyeaters as well as crows.^[4]

Species

Two species are recognized:^[5]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Grallina cyanoleuca		Australia, Timor, and southern New Guinea
	Grallina bruijnii		New Guinea

Notes and References

1. Andersen . M.J. . Hosner . P.A. . Filardi . C.E. . Moyle . R.G. . 2015 . Phylogeny of the monarch flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly and novel relationships within a major Australo-Pacific radiation . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 83 . 118–36 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2014.11.010. 25463752 . 2015MolPE..83..118A .
2. Book: The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Christidis L, Boles WE . 1994 . RAOU. Melbourne .
3. Book: Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Christidis L, Boles WE . 2008 . CSIRO Publishing . Canberra . 978-0-643-06511-6 . 174.
4. [Charles Sibley|Sibley, Charles Gald]
5. IOC World Bird List 6.4. IOC World Bird List Datasets. 10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4. free.