Pink robin

Pink robin
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Petroicidae
Genus: Petroica
Species: P. rodinogaster
Binomial name
Petroica rodinogaster
(Drapiez, 1819)

The pink robin (Petroica rodinogaster) is a small passerine bird native to southeastern Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Like many brightly coloured robins of the family Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic. Measuring 13.5 cm (5.3 in) in length, the robin has a small thin black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. The male has a distinctive white crown and pink breast, grey-black upperparts, wings and tail. The belly is white. The female has grey-brown plumage. The position of the pink robin and its Australian relatives on the passerine family tree is unclear; the Petroicidae are not closely related to either the European or American robins but appear to be an early offshoot of the Passerida group of songbirds.

Taxonomy

Described by Belgian naturalist Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez in 1819, the pink robin is a member of the Australasian robin family Petroicidae, or Eopsaltridae.[2] Sibley and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation studies placed this group in a Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, fairy-wrens, honeyeaters and crows.[3] However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the Passerida (or "advanced" songbirds) within the songbird lineage.[4] Testing of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests the pink and rose robins are each other's closest relative within the genus.[5]
Male pink robin calling

Description

The pink robin is 13.5 cm (5.5 in) long and displays sexual dimorphism – the males and females have plumage which differ markedly. The male has a dark blackish-grey head, throat, back, wings and tail, a pink breast and belly fading to white on the lower abdomen, and a white forehead. The female is dark grey-brown above, with two buff-coloured wing-bars and pinkish-tinged underparts. The bill and feet are black, and the eyes are dark brown.[6]

Distribution and habitat

Its range is forests of southern Victoria and neighbouring parts of South Australia and New South Wales, and Tasmania.[6]

Feeding

Prey consists of a variety of spiders and insects, including caterpillars, ichneumon wasps, beetles, flies and ants.[7]

Breeding

Breeding occurs from September to January. The nest is a well-made, neat, deep cup of moss. Spider webs, feathers and fur are used for binding or filling, and the nest is generally placed in a tree fork up to 5 m (15 ft) above the ground. A clutch of three or four eggs is laid. The eggs, which measure 18 by 14 mm, are greyish-, greenish- or blueish-white, and are marked with dark brown and lavender splotches and spots, usually concentrated around the large end.[8]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Petroica rodinogaster". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Boles, Walter E. (1988). The Robins and Flycatchers of Australia. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. p. 35. ISBN 0-207-15400-7.
  3. ↑ Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE (1990). Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 603, 610–27. ISBN 0-300-04085-7.
  4. ↑ Barker, F. Keith; Cibois, Alice; Schikler, Peter A.; Feinstein, Julie & Cracraft, Joel (2004). PDF fulltext "Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation" (PDF). PNAS 101 (30): 11040–45. doi:10.1073/pnas.0401892101. PMC 503738. PMID 15263073. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  5. ↑ Loynes, Kate; Joseph, Leo; Keogh, J. Scott (2009). "Multi-locus phylogeny clarifies the systematics of the Australo-Papuan robins (Family Petroicidae, Passeriformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53 (1): 212–19. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.05.012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Slater, Peter (1974). A Field Guide to Australian Birds: Passerines. Adelaide: Rigby. p. 171. ISBN 0-85179-813-6.
  7. ↑ Barker RD, Vestjens WJM (1984). The Food of Australian Birds: (II) Passerines. Melbourne University Press. p. 53. ISBN 0-643-05115-5.
  8. ↑ Beruldsen, Gordon (2003). Australian Birds: Their Nests and Eggs. Kenmore Hills, Qld: self. p. 340. ISBN 0-646-42798-9.