The yellow-bellied flyrobin (''Cryptomicroeca flaviventris'') is a species of

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird in the Australasian robin family

Petroicidae The bird family Petroicidae includes 51 species in 19 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called th ...

. It is the only species in the genus ''Cryptomicroeca''. The yellow-bellied flyrobin 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 ...

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, where it occurs on the island of Grande Terre. It occupies a range of habitats, including dry lowlands, woodland, ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

'' and ''

Pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...

'' forest, and humid forest from sea level up to .

Taxonomy

The yellow-bellied flyrobin was described in 1860 by the French ornithologists,

Jules Verreaux Jules Pierre Verreaux (24 August 1807 – 7 September 1873) was a French botanist and ornithologist and a professional collector of and trader in natural history specimens. He was the brother of Édouard Verreaux and nephew of Pierre Antoine Dela ...

and Oeillet des Murs, from a specimen collected in

. They coined 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 ...

''Eopsaltria flavigastra''. The English ornithologist,

Richard Bowdler Sharpe Richard Bowdler Sharpe (22 November 1847 – 25 December 1909) was an English zoologist and ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history. In the course of his career he published several mono ...

, realised that the

specific epithet 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 ...

was

preoccupied The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...

, and in 1903 he proposed ''flaviventris'' as a replacement. The species was long considered one of the yellow robins of the genus ''

Eopsaltria ''Eopsaltria'' is a genus of small forest passerines known in Australia as the yellow robins. They belong to the Australasian robin family Petroicidae. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek for "dawn singer/song" because of their dawn chorus ...

''. However, a 2009 genetic study showed it to be nested within the flyrobin genus '' Microeca'', and hence it was moved to ''Microeca'', and its common name was changed from yellow-bellied robin to yellow-bellied flyrobin in the online list of world birds maintained by

Frank Gill Frank Gill may refer to: * Frank Gill (Australian footballer) (1908–1970), Australian rules footballer with Carlton * Frank Gill (footballer, born 1948), footballer for Tranmere Rovers *Frank Gill (politician) (1917–1982), New Zealand politicia ...

and David Donsker on behalf of the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC). A more comprehensive genetic study of the family

, published in 2011, found that the yellow-bellied flyrobin was divergent from the other members of ''Microeca'', and instead was

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

to a clade containing the '' Microeca'' and the torrent flyrobin. The yellow-bellied flyrobin is now placed as the only species in the genus ''Cryptomicroeca'' that was introduced in 2012.

Description

The yellow-bellied robin is a medium-sized Australasian robin, in length and weighing around . The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

is similar to members of the genus ''Eopsaltria'': dark olive-grey back, tail and wings, grey head and chest with a slightly lighter throat, and yellow belly and rump. The legs are grey.

References

* BirdLife International 2004.
Eopsaltria flaviventris

2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Downloaded on 25 July 2007. yellow-bellied flyrobin Endemic birds of New Caledonia yellow-bellied flyrobin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Petroicidae-stub