Black grasswren | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Maluridae |
Genus: | Amytornis |
Species: | A. housei |
Binomial name | |
Amytornis housei (Milligan, 1902) | |
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Distribution | |
Synonyms | |
Magnamytis kimberleyi, Mathews, 1923 |
The black grasswren (Amytornis housei), known as dalal to the Wunambal people, [2] is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Western Australia.
Naturalist Frederick Maurice House discovered the black grasswren in 1901, as a part of a surveying party led by Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman through the Kimberley in northwestern Australia. He collected a single specimen. Alexander William Milligan, consulting ornithologist at the Western Australian Museum, named it after House when he described the species. [3] The bird was not seen again until 1968, when Dan Freeman of the Natural History Museum led a party to the same area to find it. [4]
Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation and open woodland, punctuated by large sandstone boulders and slabs. [5] It inhabits the Mitchell River National Park in the Kimberley region of north-west WA. [2]
It has been classified as least concern. Bushfires have become more frequent, as has rainfall, which has altered the landscape. Black grasswrens are not highly mobile and have possibly become locally extinct around Manning Creek due to fire before 2007. [6]
The black grasswren is seldom seen – even when most people visit (in the cooler months), it hides in cracks and fissures in sandstone. Its eggs and nest were only discovered in 1998, the lack of knowledge being because the region is largely inaccessible during the summer wet season. [5]
It is present in the Charnley River–Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kimberley region of WA. [7]
The nest is an oval structure of dried grass stems and leaves in tussocks of soft spinifex ( Triodia pungens ). It has an entrance in a small spout, with a landing in front of it. The female incubates the clutch, which generally consists of two eggs. The eggs are white with sparse dark markings and measure 21–22.2 mm long by 15.6–16.7 mm wide. [5]
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The scaly-tailed possum is found in northwestern Australia, where it is restricted to the Kimberley.
The monjon is the smallest species of rock-wallaby (Petrogale) in the family Macropodidae, found in northwestern Australia. They are restricted to a small area of the Kimberley in the state of Western Australia, and on nearby islands within the Bonaparte Archipelago. Common names also include Burbidge's rock-wallaby and Burbidge's rock-weasel.
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The grey grasswren is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found on arid inland floodplains of Australia where it is endemic. The grey grasswren is a rarely seen elusive bird that was first sighted in 1921 but not taxonomically described until 1968. Its greyish coloration and very long tail distinguish it from all other grasswrens. While some recent research has been conducted, there still remain many gaps in the knowledge about the ecology of this cryptic bird.
The Eyrean grasswren is a small grasswren from the Passerine family Maluridae. This is a cryptically plumaged and uncommon bird endemic to arid regions of Central Australia. The species was discovered by F.W. Andrews in 1874 around the Macumba River at Lake Eyre, and named after the South Australian Surveyor General George Woodroffe Goyder.
The striated grasswren is a small, cryptically coloured ground-dwelling species of wren-like bird in the family Maluridae, endemic to Australia. It occupies a large discontinuous range across arid and semi-arid areas of western, central and southern Australia where it is associated with spinifex (Triodia) grass.
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Mitchell River National Park is a national park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 2,140 kilometres (1,330 mi) northeast of Perth. The park adjoins the northern boundary of the Prince Regent National Park. The nearest towns are Derby, 350 kilometres (217 mi) to the southwest, as well as Wyndham, 270 km (168 mi) to the southeast. Created in 2000, the park covers an area of over 1,150 km2 (440 sq mi) on the Mitchell Plateau (Ngauwudu).
The Kimberley honeyeater is a bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. It was formerly lumped with the white-lined honeyeater but, based on a genetic analysis, it is now considered a separate species. Articles published in 2014 and 2015 provided evidence that the Kimberley and white-lined honeyeaters differ not only genetically, but also in song and foraging ecology. The specific epithet honours the Australian chemist and ornithologist Dr Julian Ralph Ford (1932-1987).
The Kimberley tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northwestern Australia, covering portions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory south of the Timor Sea.
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The western grasswren, also referred to as the thick-billed grasswren and, formerly, as the textile wren, is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. It was formerly lumped as the nominate subspecies of the thick-billed grasswren.
Alexander William Milligan was an Australian accountant, legal clerk, zoological collector and ornithologist.
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