Leslie Christidis

Last updated

Leslie Christidis (born 30 May 1959), [1] also simply known as Les Christidis, is an Australian ornithologist. His main research field is the evolution and systematics of birds. He has been director of Southern Cross University National Marine Science Centre since 2009. He was assistant director at Sydney's Australian Museum from 2004 to 2009.

Contents

Leslie Christidis graduated as Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne in 1980. In 1985 he required his Ph.D. at the Australian National University where he studied the evolutionary genetics of Australian finches.

During his research studies, where he first worked as a CSIRO post-doctoral fellow and then as the recipient of Queen Elizabeth II fellowship, he demonstrated that 4500 species of the world's songbirds had its origin in Australia. [2] Les Christidis was Senior Curator of Ornithology at the Museum Victoria from 1987 to 1996.

Les Christidis was author or co-author of over 100 scientific papers and books on the taxonomy and evolutionary genetics of birds, bats, marsupials, bryozoans and more recently on cultural intangible heritage. Together with Walter E. Boles he published The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and Its Territories, with several revisions on Australasian birds including the family Acanthizidae. Together with Richard Schodde he described Amytornis barbatus diamantina, a subspecies of the grey grasswren, in 1987. [3] He further described two subfamilies, Amalocichlinae and Pachycephalopsinae, and a genus, Cryptomicroeca in 2012. [4]

He was awarded with the W. Roy Wheeler Medallion in 2005.

Selected works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australasian wren</span> Family of birds

The Australasian wrens are a family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. While commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens. The family comprises 32 species in six genera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australasian robin</span> Family of birds

The bird family Petroicidae includes 51 species in 19 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 family species are known variously as robins, scrub-robins and flyrobins. They are only distantly related to the European robin of Europe, north Africa and western Asia, a member of family Muscicapidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Currawong</span> Genus of birds

Currawongs are three species of medium-sized passerine birds belonging to the genus Strepera in the family Artamidae native to Australia. These are the grey currawong, pied currawong, and black currawong. The common name comes from the call of the familiar pied currawong of eastern Australia and is onomatopoeic. They were formerly known as crow-shrikes or bell-magpies. Despite their resemblance to crows and ravens, they are only distantly related to the corvidae, instead belonging to an Afro-Asian radiation of birds of superfamily Malaconotoidea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern yellow robin</span> Species of songbird native to eastern Australia

The eastern yellow robin is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the eastern yellow robin's residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown. Tropical Northern Queensland birds are mainly restricted to the warm heights of the Great Dividing Range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-browed pardalote</span> Species of bird

The red-browed pardalote is a small brightly coloured insectivorous passerine, endemic to Australia. A gleaning specialist, they forage primarily in eucalypt trees . The Latin word rubricatus means 'red-ochred' which is descriptive of their orange-red eyebrow. Other common names include red-browed diamondbird, bellbird, cape red-browed, pale red-browed, fawn-eyed, fawn-eyebrowed and pallid or red-lored pardalote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restless flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The restless flycatcher or restless myiagra is a passerine bird in the family Monarchidae; it is also known as the razor grinder or scissors grinder because of its distinctive call. It is a native of eastern and southern Australia. Populations in New Guinea and northern Australia, which were at one time considered to be a subspecies, are now accepted as a separate species, the paperbark flycatcher. It is a small to medium-sized bird and has similar colouring to the willie wagtail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baudin's black cockatoo</span> Species of bird endemic to Western Australia

Baudin's black cockatoo, also known as Baudin's cockatoo or the long-billed black cockatoo, is a species of genus Zanda found in southwest Australia. The epithet commemorates the French explorer Nicolas Baudin. It has a short crest on the top of its head, and the plumage is mostly greyish black. It has prominent white cheek patches and a white tail band. The body feathers are edged with white giving a scalloped appearance. Adult males have a dark grey beak and pink eye-rings. Adult females have a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings and ear patches that are paler than those of the males.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey grasswren</span> Species of bird

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eyrean grasswren</span> Species of 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dusky grasswren</span> Species of bird

The dusky grasswren is a species of small passerine bird in the family Maluridae. The species is endemic to Australia but is limited to inland areas of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Striated grasswren</span> Species of bird

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.

<i>Calamanthus</i> Genus of birds

Calamanthus is a genus of bird in the family Acanthizidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristlebird</span> Family of birds

The bristlebirds are a family of passerine birds, Dasyornithidae. There are three species in one genus, Dasyornis. The family is endemic to the south-east coast and south-west corner of Australia. The genus Dasyornis was sometimes placed in the Acanthizidae or, as a subfamily, Dasyornithinae, along with the Acanthizinae and Pardalotinae, within an expanded Pardalotidae, before being elevated to full family level by Christidis & Boles (2008).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern scrub robin</span> Species of bird

The northern scrub robin is a species of bird in the family Petroicidae. It is found in northern Cape York Peninsula. It was found to be genetically distinct from the Papuan scrub robin, which were thought to be members of the same species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-chinned honeyeater</span> Species of bird

The black-chinned honeyeater is a species of passerine bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical dry forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemon-bellied flyrobin</span> Species of bird

The lemon-bellied flyrobin or lemon-bellied flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Petroicidae. Found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leaden flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The leaden flycatcher is a species of passerine bird in the family Monarchidae. Around 15 cm (6 in) in length, the male is lustrous azure with white underparts, while the female possesses leaden head, mantle and back and rufous throat and breast. It is found in eastern and northern Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests in the northern parts of its range, in the south and inland it is eucalypt woodland.

The Christmas Island swiftlet, also known as the Christmas glossy swiftlet or the Christmas cave swiftlet, is a small bird in the swift family Apodidae. It is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the eastern Indian Ocean. It was formerly commonly treated as a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suliformes</span> Order of birds

The order Suliformes is an order recognised by the International Ornithologist's Union. In regard to the recent evidence that the traditional Pelecaniformes is polyphyletic, it has been suggested that the group be divided to reflect the true evolutionary relationships, a 2017 study indicated that they are most closely related to Otidiformes (bustards) and Ciconiiformes (storks).

<i>Ptilotula</i> Genus of birds

Ptilotula is a genus of honeyeater consisting of species occurring in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The genus consists of six former members of Lichenostomus, and was created after a molecular analysis showed the genus was polyphyletic. The International Ornithologists' Union accepted this change and officially included the genus in reference lists from 2013. The type species is the yellow-tinted honeyeater. Birds in this genus typically occupy dry open forest and woodland habitats, and can be found in arid and semi-arid environments.

References

  1. Bright Sparcs. Biographical entry Leslie Christidis (Short biography)
  2. Evolution - The Experience Symposium Speakers Leslie Christidis (Short biography)
  3. Schodde, R., and L. Christidis. 1987. Genetic differentiation and subspeciation in the grey grasswren Amytornis barbatus (Maluridae). Emu 87:188-192.
  4. Christidis, L.; Irestedt, M.; Rowe, D.; Boles, W. E.; Norman, J. A.: Circumscription, diagnosis and description of two subfamilies and one genus of Australo-Papuan robins (Aves: Passeriformes: Petroicidae). Zootaxa 3560: 87–88