The Arfak catbird (''Ailuroedus arfakianus'') is a species of

bowerbird Bowerbirds () make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. They are renowned for their unique courtship behaviour, where males build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly coloured objects in an attempt to attract a mate. The family ...

(Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found in the Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula in western

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. This species was formerly considered a subspecies of the

spotted catbird The spotted catbird (''Ailuroedus maculosus'') is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found in north Queensland, the eastern Moluccas and New Guinea.Higgins, P.J., Peter, J.M. and Cowling, S.J. 2006. Handbook of Australian, Ne ...

before being reclassified as a distinct species in 2016. Martin Irestedt and colleagues examined the black-eared, spotted- and

green catbird The green catbird (''Ailuroedus crassirostris'') is a species of bowerbird found in subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. It is named after its distinctive call which soun ...

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 The Huon catbird (''Ailuroedus astigmaticus'') is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found in northeastern New Guinea. This species was formerly considered a subspecies of the spotted catbird before being reclassified as a di ...

(''A. astigmaticus'') and

black-capped catbird The black-capped catbird (''Ailuroedus melanocephalus'') is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae), native to southeastern New Guinea. This species was formerly considered a subspecies of the spotted catbird before being reclassified as a dis ...

(''A. melanocephalus'') of eastern New Guinea, the Arfak catbird (''A. arfakianus''), the

northern catbird The Northern catbird (''Ailuroedus jobiensis'') is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found in central-northern New Guinea. This species was formerly considered a subspecies of the spotted catbird The spotted catbird (''A ...

(''A. jobiensis'') of central-northern New Guinea, and black-eared catbird (''A.melanotis'') of southwestern New Guinea, Aru Islands and far North Queensland.

Subspecies

Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized:IOC v.6.3 * ''Ailuroedus arfakianus misoliensis'' –

Mayr Mayr is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrea Mayr (born 1979), Austrian female long-distance runner * Ernst Mayr (1904–2005), German American evolutionary biologist * Franz Xaver Mayr (1875–1965), Austrian gastro ...

& Meyer de Schauensee, 1939: found on Misool Island (Papua) * ''Ailuroedus arfakianus arfakianus'' – A.B. Meyer, 1874: found in the Vogelkop Mountains of northwest New Guinea

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q24997892 Arfak catbird Birds of the Doberai Peninsula Arfak catbird