Black-eared catbird

Black-eared catbird
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Ptilonorhynchidae
Genus:	Ailuroedus
Species:	A. melanotis
Binomial name
Ailuroedus melanotis (GR Gray, 1858)
Subspecies
See text

The black-eared catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis) is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found northern Queensland, Australia, and New Guinea, including its surrounding islands. They are named after their cat-like wails and black ear spot. It is described by its Latin name: ailur-cat, oidos-singing, melas-black and otus-ear.

Until 2016, A. melanotis was given the English common name of spotted catbird, this name has now been reassigned to A. maculosus. Martin Irestedt and colleagues examined the black-eared, spotted- and green catbird species complex genetically and found there were seven distinct lineages: the green catbird (A. crassirostris) of eastern Australia and the spotted catbird (A. maculosus) of eastern Queensland being the earliest offshoots, followed by the Huon catbird (A. astigmaticus) and black-capped catbird (A. melanocephalus) of eastern New Guinea, the Arfak catbird (A. arfakianus) of the Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula, the northern catbird (A. jobiensis) of central-northern New Guinea, and black-eared catbird (A.melanotis) of southwestern New Guinea, Aru Islands and far North Queensland. These latter six species were all formerly subspecies before being split from A. melanotis.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized:

• Ailuroedus melanotis facialis – Mayr, 1936: found on southern slopes of montane west-central New Guinea
• Ailuroedus melanotis melanotis – Gray, 1858: found on lowland south-central New Guinea and Aru Islands
• Ailuroedus melanotis joanae – Mathews, 1941: found on eastern Cape York Peninsula (northeastern Australia)