Biology:Quail-thrush

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A quail-thrush is a bird of the genus Cinclosoma, which contains eight species. Quail-thrushes are in a different family from either quails or thrushes, but bear some superficial resemblance to them. The genus is found in Australia and New Guinea in a variety of habitats ranging from rainforest to deserts.

Taxonomy

The genus Cinclosoma was introduced in 1827 by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield to accommodate a single species, Turdus punctatus Latham 1801, which becomes the type species by monotypy[1] This is a junior synonym of Turdus punctatus Shaw, 1794, the spotted quail-thrush.[2][3] The genus name combines the Modern Latin cinclus meaning "thrush" with the Ancient Greek κιγκλος/kinklos, an unidentified tail-wagging waterside bird.[4]

The genus is closely related to the jewel-babblers of New Guinea.[5] A molecular study published in 2015 by Gaynor Dolman and Leo Joseph resulted in the splitting of the chestnut-backed quail-thrush into the chestnut quail-thrush of eastern Australia and the copperback quail-thrush in the west.[6]

Species

Nest of Cinclosoma marginatum photographed by Whitlock, East Murchison 1909

The genus contains eight species:[7]

Image Common Name Scientific name Distribution
Painted quail-thrush Cinclosoma ajax New Guinea
120px Spotted quail-thrush Cinclosoma punctatum central-east and southeast Australia and Tasmania
Copperback quail-thrush Cinclosoma clarum central-west to central-south Australia
120px Chestnut quail-thrush Cinclosoma castanotum southeastern Australia (Yorke Peninsula, southern Flinders Ranges, eastern Mount Lofty Range, northwestern Victoria, and southwestern New South Wales
120px Chestnut-breasted quail-thrush Cinclosoma castaneothorax east-central Australia (south-central Queensland and northwestern New South Wales)
Western quail-thrush Cinclosoma marginatum west-central Australia (Pilbara region southward to Southern Cross, eastward to southwestern Northern Territory)
Nullarbor quail-thrush Cinclosoma alisteri south-central Australia (Nullarbor Plain)
120px Cinnamon quail-thrush Cinclosoma cinnamomeum central and central-south Australia

References

  1. Vigors, Nicholas Aylward; Horsfield, Thomas (1826). "Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities" (in English, Latin). Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 15 (1): 170-334 [219]. 1827. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/778465.  For the publication date see: Dickinson, E.C.; Overstreet, L.K.; Dowsett, R.J.; Bruce, M.D. (2011). Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers. Northampton, UK: Aves Press. Table LXII. ISBN 978-0-9568611-1-5. https://www.avespress.com/uploads/downloads/374/file/62_Transactions_of_the_Linnean_Society_London.pdf. 
  2. Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 231. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14486420. 
  3. Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-9568611-2-2. https://www.avespress.com/uploads/downloads/278/file/HM4_2.pdf. 
  4. Jobling, James A.. "Cinclosoma". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=Cinclosoma. 
  5. Toon, Alicia; Austin, Jeremy J.; Dolman, Gaynor; Pedler, Lynn; Joseph, Leo (2012). "Evolution of arid zone birds in Australia: Leapfrog distribution patterns and mesic-arid connections in quail-thrush (Cinclosoma, Cinclosomatidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62 (1): 286–95. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.09.026. PMID 22040766. 
  6. Dolman, Gaynor; Joseph, Leo (2015). "Evolutionary history of birds across southern Australia: structure, history and taxonomic implications of mitochondrial DNA diversity in an ecologically diverse suite of species". Emu 115 (1): 35–48. doi:10.1071/MU14047. 
  7. AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/. 

Further reading

  • Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2

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