The eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis) is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the eastern yellow robin's residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the eastern half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown. Tropical Northern Queensland birds are mainly restricted to the warm heights of the Great Dividing Range.
The eastern yellow robin was first described by ornithologist George Shaw in 1790. Two subspecies are recognised: the northern yellow robin (subsp. chrysorrhoa) and the nominate or eastern (subsp. australis). The former was previously regarded as a separate species.
Alternatively, the eastern and western yellow robins were classified as a single species by Julian Ford in 1979 on account of similarities in calls, ecology and behaviour. Playback of one species' calls in the other's territory evoked a response. Bird taxonomist Richard Schodde did not feel that this finding warranted the lumping of the two species, but did conclude that they formed a superspecies. Two analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of Australasian robins revealed that the divergence...