The crested shriketit (''Falcunculus frontatus'') or Australian shriketit, is a bird
endemic to Australia where it inhabits open
eucalypt forest and woodland. It is the only
species contained within both the
family Falcunculidae and the
genus ''Falcunculus''.
Taxonomy and distribution
The crested shriketit was first described by the English ornithologist
John Latham in 1801 under the
binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Lanius frontatus''.
Nuclear gene
A nuclear gene is a gene whose physical DNA nucleotide sequence is located in the cell nucleus of a eukaryote. The term is used to distinguish nuclear genes from genes found in mitochondria or chloroplasts. The vast majority of genes in eukaryote ...
sequencing suggests that the crested shriketit requires its own family, Falcunculidae (Dickinson 2003).
Subspecies
Three
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, with disjunct ranges, and which are sometimes considered full
species:
* Northern shriketit (''F. f. whitei''), or White's shrike-tit -
Campbell, AJ, 1910: Originally described as a separate species. Rare, with isolated records in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia and the
Top End of the
Northern Territory
* Western shriketit (''F. f. leucogaster''), or white-bellied shrike-tit -
Gould
Gould may refer to:
People
* Gould (name), a surname
Places United States
* Gould, Arkansas, a city
* Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community
* Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community
* Gould, Oklahoma, a town
* Gould, West Virginia, a ...
, 1838: sparsely distributed in south-western
Western Australia
* Eastern shriketit (''F. f. frontatus'') -
( Latham, 1801): the stronghold of the species; is in south-eastern Australia from the Lower South-East of
South Australia, coastally and in the
Murray-Darling Basin to south-eastern
Queensland, with some scattered occurrences further north and west in Queensland
Description
Males are larger than females in wing length, weight, and bill-size. Males have black throats, while females have olive green throats, and both sexes have bold black and white markings on the face.
Behaviour
It feeds mainly on insects, spiders and, sometimes, particularly during the breeding season, young birds. Thistle seeds are also taken. It has a parrot-like bill, used for distinctive bark-stripping behaviour, which gains it access to invertebrates. The bird is unobtrusive, and the sound of the bark strips being torn off trees provides an indication of its presence. It nests high in a eucalyptus tree, in a fork of a branch, both sexes sharing the incubation and the rearing of the young. There may be two broods.
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]
Status and conservation
The eastern shriketit is evaluated as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the northern shriketit is considered endangered, and the western shriketit is listed as near threatened.fragmentation
Fragmentation or fragmented may refer to:
Computers
* Fragmentation (computing), a phenomenon of computer storage
* File system fragmentation, the tendency of a file system to lay out the contents of files non-continuously
* Fragmented distributi ...
.
References
General sources
*
* Dickinson, E. C. 2003. ''The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World''. 3rd Ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
* Schodde, R. and I. J. Mason. 1999. ''Directory of Australian Birds''. Volume 1: ''Passerines''. CSIRO Publishing, Canberra.
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q3064746, from2=Q3249159, from3=Q1304974
Endemic birds of Australia
Birds of New South Wales
Birds of Queensland
Birds of South Australia
Birds of Victoria (Australia)
crested shriketit
The crested shriketit (''Falcunculus frontatus'') or Australian shriketit, is a bird Endemism in birds, endemic to Australia where it inhabits open eucalypt forest and woodland. It is the only species contained within both the family (biology), f ...
Taxa named by John Latham (ornithologist)