Live image of a Mangrove Robin
Ventral view of a Mangrove Robin specimen
Dorsal view of a Mangrove Robin specimen

Mangrove Robin

Eopsaltria pulverulenta

The Mangrove Robin is a small, grey robin, which inhabits the mangroves of northern Australia.

Morphology

The Mangrove Robin is typically 14-17 cm long, with a long bill and short tail, relative to other robins. Its head, neck, back and scapulars (shoulders) are brownish-grey, with dark greyish brown wings and a small whitish wing-stripe whilst in flight. The tail and tail coverlets (body feathers extending over the tail feathers) are black, with white bases to the outer tail feathers. The lores (area between eyes and nostril) are blackish. The underside of the Mangrove Robin is white, with a clouded grey breast.

Evolution

The Mangrove Robin belongs to the Family Petroicidae, commonly called the Australasian Robins, which includes the robins, scrub-robins and flycatchers. The family is endemic to Australasia, including New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and some Pacific islands. The Mangrove Robin is placed in the genus Eopsaltria by the Western Australian Museum, but is placed in Peneonanthe by other researchers. According to two molecular studies, the Mangrove robin is actually most closely related to members of the genus Peneothello, including the Slaty, White-winged and White-rumped robins. According to some researchers, the Mangrove robin is comprised of three subspecies, with the taxon inhabiting the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia belonging to the subspecies cinereiceps In Western Australia, areas where mangroves do not grow break up the distribution of the Mangrove Robin. These areas have been tested as long-term barriers to dispersal, and the possibility for Mangrove Robin populations to be distinct on either side of these barriers.

Behaviour

The Mangrove Robin is often found feeding on the ground and among mangrove roots.

Method of reproduction

Sexual

Habitat

Terrestrial

The Mangrove Robin is restricted to mangroves, but can be observed in adjacent woodlands.

Distribution

The Mangrove Robin as found distributed from Ayr, in northern Queensland, across the Australian monsoonal tropics, including southern New Guinea, to the Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia.
In Western Australia, its distribution is in the mangrove habitat, north of Exmouth, and is broken up by the presence and absence of mangrove habitat, to which it is restricted. Major breaks in its distribution include eighty-mile beach, located between the Pilbara and Kimberley regions, and the Bonaparte Gulf, north-east of Kununurra.
Not endemic to Western Australia.

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Petroicidae
Genus: Eopsaltria
Species: pulverulenta
Name Published Year: 1850
Rank: species
Scientific Name Authorship: Bonaparte
Commercial Impact: 

None

Conservation Assessment: Least Concern

Net Conservation Benefits Fund

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Western Australian Museum Collections https://museum.wa.gov.au/online-collections/names/eopsaltria-pulverulenta
Accessed 31 Aug 2023

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