New Australian Checklist following Christidis and Boles 2008

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Bill Jolly
Posts: 352
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:57 am
Location: Lockyer Valley

New Australian Checklist following Christidis and Boles 2008

Post by Bill Jolly »

The publication of Christidis and Boles 2008 "Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds" incorporates a number of changes to the Australian Checklist which followed their previous 1994 publication.

The new publication sets out supporting arguments for the various changes, which I have summarised below.

Bill Jolly

1 - Additional species from splits, mostly domestic

Vanuatu Petrel split from White-necked Petrel
Kalkadoon Grasswren split from Dusky Grasswren
Short-tailed Grasswren split from Striated Grasswren
Western Wattlebird split from Little Wattlebird
Kimberley Honeyeater split from White-lined Honeyeater
Pacific Robin (on Norfolk Island) split from Scarlet Robin
Buff-sided Robin split from White-browed Robin

2 - Lumpings, mostly domestic

Snares Penguin lumped with Fjordland Penguin
Gould’s Bronze-Cuckoo lumped with Little Bronze-Cuckoo
Lesser Sooty Owl lumped with Sooty Owl
Black-backed Wagtail lumped with White Wagtail

3 – Australian species split from overseas species

Australian Swiftlet (Aerodramus terraereginae) split from White-rumped Swiftlet (A. spodyopygius) of Melanesia and Polynesia.
Australian Little Bittern (Ixobrychus dubius) split from I. minutus of Africa and the Palearctic
Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta) split from A. alba of the new world, Eurasia and Africa.
Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus) split from P. haliaetus of much of the rest of the world
Pale-vented Bush-hen (Amaurornis moluccana) split from A. olivacea of The Philippines
Australian Painted Snipe (Rostratula australis) split from R. benghalensis of Africa and Asia.
Brown Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) split from Great Skua formerly Catharacta skua
Tasman Parakeet (Cyanoramphus cookii) split from Red-crowned Parakeet (C. novaezelandiae)
Eastern Koel (Eudynamis orientalis) split from Asian Koel (E. scolopaceus) - which remains on the list from Christmas Island
Christmas Island Hawk-Owl (Ninox natalis) split from Moluccan Hawk-Owl (N. squamipila)
Eastern Barn Owl (Tyto javanica) split from T. alba
Eastern Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris) split from T. capensis
Australian Logrunner (Orthonyx temminckii) split from New Guinean Logrunner (O.novaeguineae)
Rufous Fantail (Rhipidura rufifrons) split from Arafura Fantail (R. dryas) - which remains on the list from northern Australia
Grey Fantail (R. albiscapa) split from New Zealand Fantail (R. fuliginosa).
Australasian Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae) split from Richard’s Pipit of Eurasia and Africa
Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis)andGreen-headed Yellow Wagtail (M. taivana) split from Yellow Wagtail (M. flava)


4 – Other additions to the Australian list

V – Vagrant I – Introduced A - Ashmore Reef AAT – Australian Antarctic Territory C – Christmas Island CK - Cocos (Keeling) Islands H – Heard Island LH – Lord Howe Island M – Macquarie Island N – Norfolk Island TI – Torres Strait Islands


Helmeted Guineafowl I
Green Junglefowl CK/I
Spotted Whistling-Duck
Kerguelen Pintail AAT/V
Little Grebe V
Jouanin's Petrel V
Newell’s Shearwater V
Laysan Albatross V
Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel V
Tristram’s Storm-Petrel V
Atlantic Petrel V
Kerguelen Shag V
Chinese Pond Heron CK/V
Javan Pond Heron V
Schrenk’s Bittern C/V
Cinnamon Bittern C/V
Grey Heron V
Oriental Honey-buzzard V C/V
Variable Goshawk C
Corncrake V
Nordmann’s Greenshank V
Green Sandpiper V
Short-billed Dowitcher V
South Island Pied Oystercatcher V
American Golden Plover V
Grey-headed Lapwing V
Lesser Black-backed Gull CK/V
Mew Gull C/V
Barbary Dove I
Red-collared Dove C/V
Orange-bellied Fruit-dove TS/V
Lesser Coucal A/V
Large Hawk-Cuckoo C/V
Buffy Fish-Owl CK
Savanna Nightjar C/V
Grey Nightjar A/V
Linchi Swiftlet C
Papuan Spine-tailed Swift TS/V
Common Kingfisher C/V
Black-capped Kingfisher V
Island Monarch A/V
Brown Shrike C/V
Tiger Shrike V
Black-billed Magpie V
House Crow V
Pechora Pipit A/V
Pale-headed Munia A/V
Red-capped Flowerpecker TS
Asian House Martin V, C/V
Blue Rock Thrush V
Isabelline Wheatear V
Narcissus Flycatcher V
Blue & White Flycatcher V, C/V
Singing Starling TS
Purple-backed Starling C/V
Rosy Starling V

5 – Other name changes

Mallard becomes Northern Mallard
Darter becomes Australasian Darter
Pied Oystercatcher becomes Australian Pied Oystercatcher
Laughing Turtle-Dove becomes Laughing Dove
Spotted Turtle-Dove becomes Spotted Dove
Short-billed Black-Cockatoo becomes Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo
Long-billed Black-Cockatoo becomes Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo
Logrunner becomes Australian Logrunner
Figbird becomes Australasian Figbird
Singing Bushlark becomes Horsfield’s Bushlark
Skylark becomes Eurasian Skylark
European Greenfinch becomes Common Greenfinch
Yellow-bellied Sunbird becomes Olive-backed Sunbird
Sandra
Posts: 63
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 8:55 am
Location: Yeronga, Brisbane

Christidis and Boles

Post by Sandra »

Thank you Bill for the list of changes. It helps greatly.
Cheers Sandra
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