The White-winged Robin (Peneothello sigillatus) is a species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the family Petroicidae

Petroicidae

The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the...

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Distribution and habitat

The White-winged Robin is found in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 and Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is subtropical or tropical moist montane

Montane

In biogeography, montane is the highland area located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures and often have higher rainfall than the adjacent lowland regions, and are frequently home to distinct communities of plants and animals.The term "montane" means "of the...

s. It is found in the highlands of New Guinea from altitudes of 2400 to 3900 m (7500-12000 ft), and is replaced by the Slaty Robin at lower altitudes.

Description

Measuring 14 to 15 cm (5.5–6 in), the adult White-winged Robin has black plumage, with largely white wings. The male and female are identical. The bill and feet are black, and the eyes are dark brown. Juveniles have a variable streaked brown plumage.

Behaviour

Within the forest the robin is found in pairs or small troops of several birds in the understory

Understory

Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...

 or on the ground. It is insectivorous, but does also eat some seeds. The somewhat bulky cup-shaped nest is constructed in a tree fork.

Taxonomy

Described by Italian naturalist Charles Walter De Vis

Charles Walter De Vis

Charles Walter de Vis , known as Devis before about 1882, was an English zoologist and ornithologist...

 in 1890, the White-winged Robin is a member of the Australasian Robin family Petroicidae

Petroicidae

The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the...

, or Eopsaltridae. Sibley

Charles Sibley

Charles Gald Sibley was an American ornithologist and molecular biologist. He had an immense influence on the scientific classification of birds, and the work that Sibley initiated has substantially altered our understanding of the evolutionary history of modern birds.Sibley's taxonomy has been a...

 and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation

DNA-DNA hybridisation

DNA-DNA hybridization generally refers to a molecular biology technique that measures the degree of genetic similarity between pools of DNA sequences. It is usually used to determine the genetic distance between two species...

 studies placed this group in a Corvida

Corvida

The "Corvida" were one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri, as proposed in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder....

 parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, fairy-wrens

Maluridae

The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...

, honeyeaters and crows. However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the Passerida

Passerida

Passerida is under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri...

 (or "advanced" songbirds) within the songbird

Songbird

A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...

 lineage.

Subspecies

Within the species, three subspecies are recognised – the nominate which is found on the main mountain range along New Guinea from the Bismarck Range

Bismarck Range

The Bismarck Range is a mountain range in the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. The range is named after the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. From the 1880s to 1914 this part of the island was a German colony....

 eastwards, subspecies hagenensis from Mount Hagen

Mount Hagen (volcano)

Mount Hagen , named after the German colonial officer Curt von Hagen, is the second highest volcano in Papua New Guinea and on the Australian continent, ranking behind only its neighbour Mount Giluwe which is roughly to the southwest...

 west into Irian Jaya, and subspecies saruwagedi of the Huon Peninsula

Huon Peninsula

Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec who discovered it along with his personal assistant and porter, Henry Ole. The peninsula is dominated by the steep...

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