Black-billed Thrush

About the Black-billed Thrush

The black-billed thrush (Turdus ignobilis) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The black-billed thrush was originally described in 1858 with its current binomial Turdus ignobilis. Its further taxonomy is unsettled.

In the early twentieth century two subspecies were added, T. i. goodfellowi (Hartert, EJO & Hellmayr, 1901) and T. i. debilis (Hellmayr, 1902). A 1931 publication added two more that had originally been described as species, T. i. arthuri (Chubb, C, 1914) and T. i. murinus (Salvin, 1885).

Molecular phylogenetics studies published in the 2010s determined that arthuri and murinus should again be established as full species. Following those studies, the South American Classification Committee, the IOC, AviList, and the Clements taxonomy recognized them as the campina thrush and pantepui thrush respectively. With these moves the systems returned the black-billed thrush to its early twentieth century status with three subspecies.

As of late 2025 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) recognizes the campina thrush (arthuri) as a species. However... Wikipedia →