The Huon catbird (''Ailuroedus astigmaticus'') 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 northeastern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. 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 The green catbird (''Ailuroedus crassirostris'') is a species of bowerbird found in subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. It is named after its distinctive call which soun ...

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 (''A. astigmaticus'') and black-capped catbird (''A. melanocephalus'') of eastern New Guinea, the Arfak catbird (''A. arfakianus'') of the Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula, 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 The spotted catbird (''A ...

(''A. jobiensis'') of central-northern New Guinea, and black-eared catbird (''A.melanotis'') of southwestern New Guinea, Aru Islands and far North Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q24997893 Huon catbird Birds of the Huon Peninsula Huon catbird Endemic birds of Papua New Guinea