The
mangrove robin (
Melanodryas pulverulenta) is a passerine bird in the Australasian robin family Petroicidae. It is found in the Aru Islands, New Guinea, and northern Australia. The bird´s common name refers to its natural habitat. It lives in mangrove forests and seldom flies outside these biomes.
Taxonomy: The mangrove robin was formally described in 1850 as
Myiolestes pulverulentus by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte from a specimen collected in New Guinea. The type location was restricted to the Utanata River in southern New Guinea by Ernst Mayr in 1941. The specific epithet is from Latin meaning "dusty" or "powdered". The species was subsequently moved to the genus
Peneoenanthe by the Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews in 1920. Based on the results of a 2011 molecular phylogenetic study of the Australasian robins by Les Christidis and coworkers, the mangrove robin was moved to the genus
Peneothello. In 2025 the AviList checklist merged the genus
Peneothello into an expanded
Melanodryas.
There are four subspecies.
- M. p. pulverulenta (Bonaparte, 1850) – coastal New Guinea
- M. p. leucura (Gould, 1869) – Aru Islands (south west of New Guinea), northeast coast of Australia
- M. p. alligator (Mathews, 1912) – coastal northern Australia and nearby islands
- M. p. cinereiceps (Hartert, 1905) – northwest coast of Australia
The mangrove robin has an average weight of for males and for females. Their wingspan differs between subspecies – the
leucura subspecies have spans of 86 mm to 90 mm for males and 77 mm to 84 mm for females, while the
alligator subspecies have spans of 82 mm to 87 mm for males and 76 mm to 80 mm for females. For
cinereiceps, male birds have wingspans of 80 mm to 84 mm long; on the other hand, female wingspans are 76 mm to 78 mm long. They feature a "dull pale bar" at the bottom of their remiges, although this is not very noticeable. In order to facilitate their navigation through thick mangrove forests, mangrove robins have developed wings and tails that are rounded.
Distribution and habitat: The bird is found in the Northern Australia region and the island of New Guinea, within the countries of Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Their preferred habitat are tropical and subtropical mangrove forests located above the level of high tide. They seldom travel outside their habitat.
Behaviour: The call of the mangrove robin has been described as a "down-slurred whistle". It eats insects in the mud when the tide falls. While these may be its primary prey, the mangrove robin also consumes a significant amount of crab in its diet.
Conservation status: The mangrove robin has been placed in the least Concern category of the IUCN Red List, as the population has remained stable throughout the last ten years. The size of its distribution range is over .