NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Slender-billed Thornbill
Acanthiza iredalei Mathews, 1911
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The slender-billed thornbill (Acanthiza iredalei) is a small bird native to Australia. It includes three sub-species:
A. i. hedleyi
A. i. iredalei
A. i. rosinae
This thornbill can be found in shrublands and salt marshes, typically those around salt lakes or low heath on sand plains. It eats mostly insects and spiders captured in the shrubs of its habitat. It rarely feeds on the ground, preferring instead the higher elevations of shrubs and trees.
The slender-billed thornbill is rarely observed alone. They are usually seen in flocks of approximately 8-10 birds or in pairs. Thornbill nests are small and built in low shrubs. They are constructed of grass, bark, cobwebs, and other shrubland debris. Females lay up to three eggs during the breeding season, which runs from July until November.
Wikipedia contributors, Slender-billed thornbill; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:00:55.694192+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Acanthiza iredalei Mathews, 1911
- Name authority
- Mathews, 1911
- Common name
- Slender-billed Thornbill
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Acanthizidae
- Genus
- Acanthiza
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyAcanthizidae Bonaparte, 1854
- genusAcanthiza Vigors & Horsfield, 1827
- speciesAcanthiza iredalei Mathews, 1911
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Acanthiza. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Tasmanian ThornbillAcanthiza ewingii Gould, 1844 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown ThornbillAcanthiza pusilla (Shaw, 1790) | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Inland ThornbillAcanthiza apicalis Gould, 1847 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Buff-rumped ThornbillAcanthiza reguloides Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Striated ThornbillAcanthiza lineata Gould, 1838 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-rumped ThornbillAcanthiza chrysorrhoa (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832) | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| New Guinea ThornbillAcanthiza murina (De Vis, 1897) | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow ThornbillAcanthiza nana Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mountain ThornbillAcanthiza katherina De Vis, 1905 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western ThornbillAcanthiza inornata Gould, 1841 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Slaty-backed ThornbillAcanthiza robustirostris Milligan, 1903 | AcanthizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Mathews, & Gregory Macalister. (1911). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, Vol. 27, No. 170. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:64CQS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.