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 Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. 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 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 before being reclassified 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 biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognized:IOC v.6.3 * ''Ailuroedus arfakianus misoliensis'' – Mayr & 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 The Arfak catbird (''Ailuroedus arfakianus'') is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found in the Bird's Head Peninsula, Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula in western New Guinea. This species was formerly considered a subspecie ...

Birds of the Doberai Peninsula