The white-bellied whipbird (''Psophodes leucogaster''), also called the Mallee whipbird, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of bird in the family

Psophodidae Psophodidae is a family of passerine birds native to Australia and nearby areas. It has a complicated taxonomic history and different authors vary in which birds they include in the family. In the strictest sense, it includes only the 5 or 6 spec ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to southern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Taxonomy

The species was formerly considered as a

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 ...

of ''

Psophodes nigrogularis The black-throated whipbird (''Psophodes nigrogularis'') is a passerine bird found in several scattered populations in Southwest Australia. It is predominantly olive green in colour. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the white-be ...

'', so shared the common name of "western whipbird". The ''

Clements Checklist ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

'' refers to this species with the common name western whipbird (white-bellied) to distinguish it from ''P. nigrogularis'' (black-throated). The white-bellied whipbird was described by the Australian ornithologists Frank Howe and John Ross in 1933. It was split from the black-throated whipbird (formerly the western whipbird) based on a comparison of

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

sequences published in 2017. Two subspecies are recognised: * ''P. l. leucogaster'' Howe & Ross, JA, 1933 – south central Australia * ''P. l. lashmari'' Mason, IJ & Schodde, 1991 –

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

(off Southern Australia)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21325131

white-bellied whipbird The white-bellied whipbird (''Psophodes leucogaster''), also called the Mallee whipbird, is a species of bird in the family Psophodidae. It is endemic to southern Australia. Taxonomy The species was formerly considered as a subspecies of ''Psop ...

Endemic birds of Australia Birds described in 1933