The ochre-breasted catbird (''Ailuroedus stonii'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Ptilonorhynchidae 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 ...

. It is found in southern

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 ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Until 2016, the ochre-breasted catbird was considered conspecific with the

white-eared catbird The white-eared catbird (''Ailuroedus buccoides'') is a species of bird in the family Ptilonorhynchidae found on New Guinea and the West Papuan Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical mois ...

. Martin Irestedt and colleagues examined the white-eared catbird species complex genetically and found there were three distinct lineages: the white-eared catbird (''Ailuroedus buccoides'') proper of the Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula, the ochre-breasted catbird (''Ailuroedus stonii'') of the southern lowlands of

, and tan-capped catbird (''Ailuroedus geislerorum'') of the northern lowlands of New Guinea.

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 recognised: * ''Ailuroedus stonii stonii'' – Sharpe, 1876: found in southeast New Guinea * ''Ailuroedus stonii cinnamomeus'' – Mees, 1964: found in southeast and southwest New Guinea

References

ochre-breasted catbird Birds of New Guinea Birds described in 1876 {{passeri-stub