The Northern catbird (''Ailuroedus jobiensis'') is a species of
bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found in central-northern
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 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.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q24191069
northern catbird
Birds of the New Guinea Highlands
northern catbird