Thornbills (Acanthizidae)

Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris) - HBW 12, p. 592

French: Gérygone à bec court German: Stutzschnabel Spanish: Gerigón Piquicorto
Other common names: (Greenish) Tree-tit, Central Australian Tit, Western/Tinted Scrubtit; Brown Weebill, Brown/Short-billed/Southern Scrubtit (C & S races); Yellow Weebill, Yellow/Yellow-tinted Scrubtit (N races)

Taxonomy: Psilopus brevirostris Gould, 1838, Sydney region, New South Wales, Australia.
Has in the past been considered to comprise two species, “flavescens group” in N parts of range and nominate and others in C & S. Geographical variation complex, and often clinal, races intergrading over wide areas, e.g. recently described pale form ochrogaster may be part of a cline of yellower and less greyish coloration from S to N, as it intergrades extensively in W Western Australia with occidentalis; genetic work required in order to determine validity of races and to help in resolving subspecific taxonomy. Extensive nature of intergradation has led to the naming of up to nine races; proposed races stirlingi (from SW Australia), cairnsi (subhumid highlands of NE Queensland), pallescens (drier parts of Queensland) and mallee (mallee areas of SW New South Wales, Victoria and adjacent South Australia) all now considered to be based on intermediates; pallid form, recently renamed as ochrogaster, was formerly listed as mathewsi, but latter name was described from intergrade zone between ochrogaster and flavescens, and type shows strong features of flavigaster. Four subspecies currently recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

flavescens Gould, 1843 - N Australia from Kimberley Divide (Western Australia) E, including Tiwi Is (Bathurst I, Melville I), to N & W Queensland (Cape York Peninsula, including dry forest of NE) and S to N Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, C Australian ranges, N Simpson Desert and C Thomson drainage.
ochrogaster Schodde & Mason, 1999 - W & C Western Australia (S from Pilbara).
brevirostris (Gould, 1838) - E Australia from C & E Queensland (Burdekin drainage) S to Victoria and SE South Australia.
occidentalis Bonaparte, 1850 - SW Western Australia (S from lower R Murchison and Kalgoorlie region) E around S rim of Nullarbor Plain to South Australia (S from C Flinders Ranges, L Frome Basin and Murray-Mallee).