White-bellied whipbird explained

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]

Taxonomy

The 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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Carthy . Courtney . 2022. Endangered bird rediscovered in Victoria . 9 March 2024.
2. Web site: Clements Checklist: Updates & Corrections – August 2017 Clements Checklist . www.birds.cornell.edu . Cornell University . 6 July 2018 . en.
3. Howe . Frank Ernest . Ross . John Alexander . 1933 . On the occurrence of Psophodes nigrogularis in Victoria . Emu . 32 . 3 . 133–148 [147] . 10.1071/mu932133.
4. 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 . 10.1080/01584197.2017.1313685 . 90267260 .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2018 . Australasian babblers, logrunners, satinbirds, painted berrypeckers, wattlebirds, whipbirds . World Bird List Version 8.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . July 4, 2018.