Australian Golden Whistler - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The taxonomy of the Golden Whistler complex is difficult, and remains a matter of dispute. Some authorities include a wide range of – often strikingly different – taxa from Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji as subspecies of P. pectoralis, in which case the combined species simply is known as the Golden Whistler (a common name sometimes also used exclusively for the Australian species). Species sometimes still treated as subspecies of P. pectoralis are:

• Rusty-breasted (Fulvous-tinted) Whistler (Pachycephala fulvotincta) from south-western Wallacea, Bali and Java in Indonesia.
• Black-chinned Whistler (Pachycephala mentalis) from North Maluku in Indonesia.
• Yellow-throated Whistler (Pachycephala macrorhyncha) from central and south-eastern Wallacea.
• Bismarck Whistler (Pachycephala citreogaster) from the Bismarck and Louisiade Archipelagos in Papua New Guinea.
• Oriole Whistler (Pachycephala orioloides) from the Solomons (except Santa Cruz Islands), and the islands of Bougainville and Buka in far eastern Papua New Guinea.
• Fiji Whistler (Pachycephala graeffii) from central and northern islands in Fiji.
• White-throated Whistler (Pachycephala vitiensis) from southern islands in Fiji, and the central and northern Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons.

Additionally, all except the nominate subspecies of the Melanesian Whistler (P. caledonica) are sometimes included as subspecies of P. pectoralis (in which case P. caledonica is known as the New Caledonian Whistler). Historically even the New Caledonian, Tongan and Samoan Whistler have been treated as subspecies of the P. pectoralis. Strong published evidence in favour of either treatment is limited, and further study is warranted to resolve the situation.