Black-eared catbird


The black-eared catbird is a species of bowerbird which can be found northern Queensland and New Guinea, including its surrounding islands. They are named after their cat-like wails and black ear spot. It is described by its Latin name: ailur-cat, oidos-singing, melas-black and otus-ear.
Until 2016, A. melanotis was given the English common name of spotted catbird, this name has now been reassigned to A. maculosus. Martin Irestedt and colleagues examined the black-eared, spotted- and green catbird species complex genetically and found there were seven distinct lineages: the green catbird of eastern Australia and the spotted catbird of eastern Queensland being the earliest offshoots, followed by the Huon catbird and black-capped catbird of eastern New Guinea, the Arfak catbird of the Bird's Head Peninsula, the northern catbird of central-northern New Guinea, and black-eared catbird of southwestern New Guinea, Aru Islands and far North Queensland. These latter six species were all formerly subspecies before being split from A. melanotis.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized: