Black butcherbird (Cracticus quoyi)
Date 13 February 2009
Author Magnus Kjaergaard
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_butcherbird_on_treestump.JPG

The black butcherbird (Melloria quoyi) is a species of butcherbird in the family Artamidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Evidence was published in a 2013 molecular study which showed that it was the sister taxon to the Australian magpie (Cracticus tibicen). The ancestor to the two species is thought to have split from the other butcherbirds between 8.3 and 4.2 million years ago, during the late Miocene to early Pliocene, while the two species themselves diverged sometime during the Pliocene (5.8–3.0 million years ago).

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Artamidae
Genus: Melloria
Species: Melloria quoyi (Lesson & Garnot, 1827)
Synonyms: Cracticus quoyi