Pied Monarch - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Pied Monarch was described by John Gould in 1851, who deliberated on placing it in a genus by itself on account of its feet and eye ring. The nest and eggs were undescribed until collected by Robert Hislop on 3 December 1894 near Bloomfield River.

The Pied Monarch is closely related to and forms a superspecies with the three other species of monarch flycatcher in the genus Arses. Two subspecies are tentatively recognised, the nominate and terraereginae. However the two subspecies intergrade where their ranges meet at Mossman, and they are perhaps best treated as a monotypic species. The monarch flycatchers are classified either as a subfamily Monarchinae, together with the fantails as part of the drongo family Dicruridae, or as a family Monarchidae in its own right. Molecular research in the late 1980s and early 1990s revealed the monarchs belong to a large group of mainly Australasian birds known as the Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines. More recently, the grouping has been refined somewhat as the monarchs have been classified in a 'Core corvine' group with the crows and ravens, shrikes, birds of paradise, fantails, drongos and mudnest builders.