NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

South Island Saddleback

Philesturnus carunculatus (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

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.

A native bird of New Zealand.

A medium-sized black songbird with a chestnut-coloured saddle across the back, fleshy reddish-orange wattles at the base of the bill, and a pointed black bill. Juveniles have chocolate brown plumage for their first year and they have small wattles. — A native bird of New Zealand. A medium-sized black songbird with a chestnut-coloured saddle across the back, fleshy reddish-orange wattles at the base of the bill, and a pointed black bill. Juveniles have chocolate brown plumage for their first year and they have small wattles.
Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand · CC0 · Image source
Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The South Island saddleback or tīeke (Philesturnus carunculatus) is a forest-dwelling passerine bird in the New Zealand wattlebird family which is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Both the North Island saddleback and this species were formerly considered conspecific. The Department of Conservation currently has the South Island saddleback listed as At Risk--Declining.

Wikipedia contributors, South Island saddleback; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:21:35.258538+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Philesturnus carunculatus (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Name authority: (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Common name: South Island Saddleback
Rank: species
Accepted status: accepted
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Callaeidae
Genus: Philesturnus
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
familyCallaeidae Sundevall, 1836
genusPhilesturnus I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1832
speciesPhilesturnus carunculatus (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Philesturnus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Species	Classification	Source status
North Island SaddlebackPhilesturnus rufusater (R. P. Lesson, 1828)	CallaeidaeChordata	Accepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 5 records assigned to Callaeidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded name	Source status
Philesturnus carunculatus carunculatus (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)	synonym
Sturnus carunculatus J. F. Gmelin, 1789 J. F. Gmelin, 1789	synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Australia

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=562002 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:779Z8. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.