• Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Corvides
• Distribution: Australia and New Guinea
• Number of extant genera: 2
• Number of extant species: 12

Traditional genus-level classification of extant Cinclosomatidae following the AviList checklist v2025. (link) The number of subspecies is given in parentheses. The two-genera arrangement is based on Toon et al. (2012), Dolman & Joseph (2015), and McCullough et al. (2022). The phylogeny matches that of the BOW Phylogeny Explorer tree v1.6. (link) Note that Blom et al. (2025) found P. caerulescens to be monophyletic only after splitting off a new, cryptic species, P. nigricrissus. 

Bibliography [annotated]

Blom MPK, Bloom-Quinn S, Marki PZ, Koane B, Joseph L, Irestedt M, and Jønsson KA (2025), Museomics unravels cryptic diversity in an endemic group of New Guinean songbirds, Biol. Lett. 21, e:20240611. (pdf) [note: provided a subspecies-level phylogeny of Ptilorrhoa; described a new, cryptic species, P. nigricrissus, to make P. caerulescens monophyletic]

Dolman G, and Joseph L (2015), Evolutionary history of birds across southern Australia: structure, history and taxonomic implications of mitochondrial DNA diversity in an ecologically diverse suite of species, Emu 115, 35-48. (abstract) [note: suggested to split Cinclosoma castanotum into two species, C. castanotum and C. clarum]

Dolman G, and Joseph L (2016), Multi-locus sequence data illuminate demographic drivers of Pleistocene speciation in semi-arid southern Australian birds (Cinclosoma spp.), BMC Evol. Biol. 16, e:226. (free pdf) [note: found that C. castanotum and C. clarum diverged in the Middle Pleistocene, i.e. considerably less than one million years ago]

Jønsson KA, Fabre PH, Ricklefs RE, and Fjeldså J (2011), Major global radiation of corvoid birds originated in the proto-Papuan archipelago, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108, 2328-33. (pdf) [note: provided corvoid timetree including Cinclosoma punctatum and Ptilorrhoa leucosticta/caerulescens]

Jønsson KA, Fabre PH, Kennedy JD, Holt BG, Borregaard MK, Rahbek C, and Fjeldså J (2016), A supermatrix phylogeny of corvoid passerine birds (Aves: Corvides), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 94, 87-94. (with "hidden" supplementary data) (journal´s abstract) (author´s pdf) [note: studied eight out of nine species recognised at the time]

McCullough JM, Oliveros CH, Benz BW, Zenil-Ferguson R, Cracraft J, Moyle RG, and Andersen MJ (2022), Wallacean and Melanesian islands promote higher rates of diversification within the global passerine radiation Corvides, Syst. Biol. 71, 1423-39, [and suppl. figure S6]. (free pdf) (suppl. figs) [note: provided a timetree of five (out of eight) Cinclosoma and three (out of four) Ptilorrhoa species; study didn‘t include C. alisteri, C. clarum, C. marinatum, and P. nigricrissus]

McElroy K, Black A, Dolman G, Horton P, Pedler L, Campbell CD, Drew A, and Joseph L (2020), Robbery in progress: Historical museum collections bring to light a mitochondrial capture within a bird species widespread across southern Australia, the Copperback Quail-thrush Cinclosoma clarum, Ecol. Evol. 10, 6785-93. (pdf) [note: confirmed C. castanotum and C. clarum as separate species]

Moyle RG, Oliveros CH, Andersen MJ, Hosner PA, Benz BW, Manthey JD, Travers SL, Brown RM, and Faircloth BC (2016), Tectonic collision and uplift of Wallacea triggered the global songbird radiation, Nat. Commun. 7, e:12709. (free pdf) [note: studied Cinclosoma punctatum and Ptilorrhoa leucosticta]

Norman J, Ericson PGP, Jønsson KA, Fjeldså J, and Christidis L (2009), A multi-gene phylogeny reveals novel relationships for aberrant genera of Australo-Papuan core Corvoidea and polyphyly of the Pachycephalidae and Psophodidae (Aves: Passeriformes), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 52, 488-497. (abstract) [note: placed Cinclosoma punctatum and Ptilorrhoa caerulescens in Cinclosomatidae] 

Oliveros CH, Field DJ, Ksepka DT, Barker KF, Aleixo A, Andersen MJ, Alström P, Benz BW, Braun EL, Braun MJ, Bravo GA, Brumfield RT, Chesser RT, Claramunt S, Cracraft J, Cuervo AM, Derryberry EP, Glenn TC, Harvey MG, Hosner PA, Joseph L, Kimball RT, Mack AL, Miskelly CM, Peterson AT, Robbins MB, Sheldon FH, Silveira LF, Smith BT, White ND, Moyle RG, and Faircloth BC (2019), Earth history and the passerine superradiation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116, 7915-25.(pdf) [note: studied Cinclosoma punctatum and Ptilorrhoa leucosticta]

Toon A, Austin JJ, Dolman G, Pedler L, and Joseph L (2012), Evolution of arid zone birds in Australia: Leapfrog distribution patterns and mesic-arid connections in quail-thrush (Cinclosoma, Cinclosomatidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 62, 286-295. (abstract) [note: provided a timetree of seven Cinclosoma species; C. clarum was later split off from C. castanotum by Dolman & Joseph, 2015]

Woxvold IA, Gamui BG, Legra L, Yama S, Koane B, and Tulai S (2025), A new species of jewel-babbler (Cinclosomatidae: Ptilorrhoa) from the Southern Fold Mountains of Papua New Guinea, Ibis 168, 431-450. (pdf) [note: described a new species, Ptilorrhoa urrissia, based only on camera trap data]