Quail-thrush

Cinclosoma
Chestnut quail-thrush (Cinclosoma castanotum)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cinclosomatidae
Genus: Cinclosoma
Vigors & Horsfield, 1827
Type species
Turdus punctatus John Latham 1801= Turdua punctatus Shaw 1794

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 This is a junior synonym of Turdus punctatus Shaw, 1794, the spotted quail-thrush. The genus name combines the Modern Latin cinclus meaning "thrush" with the Ancient Greek κιγκλος/kinklos, an unidentified tail-wagging waterside bird.

The genus is closely related to the jewel-babblers of New Guinea. 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.

Species

Nest of Cinclosoma marginatum photographed by Whitlock, East Murchison 1909

The genus contains eight species:

ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Painted quail-thrushCinclosoma ajaxNew Guinea
Spotted quail-thrushCinclosoma punctatumcentral-east and southeast Australia and Tasmania
Copperback quail-thrushCinclosoma clarumcentral-west to central-south Australia
Chestnut quail-thrushCinclosoma castanotumsoutheastern Australia (Yorke Peninsula, southern Flinders Ranges, eastern Mount Lofty Range, northwestern Victoria, and southwestern New South Wales
Chestnut-breasted quail-thrushCinclosoma castaneothoraxeast-central Australia (south-central Queensland and northwestern New South Wales)
Western quail-thrushCinclosoma marginatumwest-central Australia (Pilbara region southward to Southern Cross, eastward to southwestern Northern Territory)
Nullarbor quail-thrushCinclosoma alisterisouth-central Australia (Nullarbor Plain)
Cinnamon quail-thrushCinclosoma cinnamomeumcentral and central-south Australia

References

  1. ↑ Vigors, Nicholas Aylward; Horsfield, Thomas (1827). "Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London (in English and Latin). 15 (1): 170-334 [219]. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= / |publication-date= mismatch (help) 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 (PDF). Northampton, UK: Aves Press. Table LXII. ISBN 978-0-9568611-1-5.
  2. ↑ Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 231.
  3. ↑ Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (PDF). Vol. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-9568611-2-2.
  4. ↑ Jobling, James A. "Cinclosoma". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  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. Retrieved 25 March 2026.

Further reading