Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen) - HBW 14, p. 339

Taxonomy: C[oracias] tibicen Latham, 1801, New South Wales, Australia.
Often placed in a monotypic genus, Gymnorhina, partly on basis of adaptations for terrestrial ­foraging; inclusion in present genus supported by molecular studies. Races fall into three groups, the "black-backed group" (longirostris, terraereginae, eylandtensis and nominate) of NW, N & E Australia, the "white-backed group" (tyrannicus, telonocua and hypoleucus) of SE Australia and Tasmania, and the "western or varied group" (dorsalis) of SW Australia, the last possibly including papuanus of New Guinea; groups were formerly treated as representing three distinct species, but little congruence found between morphological variation and genetic variation. Races intergrade extensively: eylandtensis intergrades with terraereginae in C & S Northern Territory and NW Queensland, and latter race intergrades with all others (tibicen, tyrannicus, telonocua) where ranges meet; in SC Australia confusing intergradation involving telonocua, terraereginae, tyrannicus and eylandtensis; and dorsalis intergrades with longirostris over broad region of S Western Australia from Shark Bay E to SW edge of Great Victoria Desert. Proposed race finki (described from Horseshoe Bend, on Finke R, in Northern Territory) refers to an intergrading population between eylandtensis and presumably terraereginae; leuconotus (from South Australia) likewise relates to an intergrade. With so much complex intergradation and often only differences in size between races, recognition of so many races perhaps inappropriate; further study of differences between populations, including molecular-genetic analyses, is required. Nine subspecies provisionally ­recognized.