NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Brown Thornbill
Acanthiza pusilla (Shaw, 1790)
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.
Brown thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla), Risdon Brook Park, Tasmania, Australia
JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The brown thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) is a passerine bird usually found in eastern and south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It can grow up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long, and feeds on insects. It is brown, grey and white. The species has five subspecies.
Wikipedia contributors, Brown thornbill; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:42:12.293781+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Acanthiza pusilla (Shaw, 1790)
- Name authority
- (Shaw, 1790)
- Common name
- Brown 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 pusilla (Shaw, 1790)
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 |
| 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 |
| Slender-billed ThornbillAcanthiza iredalei Mathews, 1911 | 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 |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Motacilla pusilla Shaw, 1790 Shaw, 1790 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=558381 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.
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:64CR3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.