Rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris)
About the Rifleman
The rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris) (Māori: titipounamu or tītitipounamu) is a small insectivorous passerine bird that is endemic to New Zealand. It belongs to the family Acanthisittidae, also known as the New Zealand wrens, of which it is one of only two surviving species. The rifleman resembles a wren in form, but is not related to the family of true wrens, Troglodytidae, nor the fairy-wrens of Australia. The rifleman was described by Anders Sparrman in 1787 based on a bird collected in Queen Charlotte Sound in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand's South Island. He originally placed it in the nuthatch genus Sitta. Frédéric de Lafresnaye placed it in its own monotypic genus Acanthisitta in 1842. The name Acanthisitta is a portmanteau of the thornbill genus Acanthiza and the genus Sitta.
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We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 33 recordings for this species: 31 CC BY-NC-SA · 2 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in New Zealand in the xeno-canto catalogue.