The white-winged robin was [[species description|formally described]] in 1890 as ”Poecilodryas sigillata” by English naturalist [[Charles Walter De Vis]].<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1986 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=11 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=578 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14484279 }}</ref> The specific epithet is from [[Latin]] meaning “adorned with little figures” from “sigilla” meaning “image”, “little figure” or “mark”.<ref>{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=sophiae | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=sigillata | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=14 November 2025 }}</ref> The species is a member of the Australasian robin family [[Petroicidae]].<ref name=Boles35>* {{cite book |title=The Robins and Flycatchers of Australia |last=Boles |first=Walter E.|year=1988 |publisher=Angus & Robertson |location=Sydney |isbn=0-207-15400-7|page=35}}</ref><ref name=avilist>{{ cite web | author=AviList Core Team | date=2025 | title=AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025 | doi=10.2173/avilist.v2025 | doi-access=free | url=http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ | access-date=14 November 2025 }}</ref> [[Charles Sibley|Sibley]] and [[Jon Ahlquist|Ahlquist]]’s [[DNA-DNA hybridisation]] studies placed this group in a [[Corvida]] [[parvorder]] comprising many tropical and Australian passerines, including [[Pardalotidae|pardalotes]], [[Maluridae|fairy-wrens]], [[Meliphagidae|honeyeaters]], and crows.<ref name=”SibAhl”>{{cite book|vauthors=Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE|title=Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution |publisher= Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CT|year=1990|pages=603, 610–27|isbn=0-300-04085-7}}</ref> However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the [[Passerida]] (or “advanced” songbirds) within the [[songbird]] lineage.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Barker, F. Keith |author2=Cibois, Alice |author3=Schikler, Peter A. |author4=Feinstein, Julie |author5=Cracraft, Joel |name-list-style=amp |year=2004|title=Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] |volume=101 |issue=30 |pages=11040–45 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0401892101 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0401892101v1.pdf |access-date=2008-08-14 |pmid=15263073 |pmc=503738|bibcode=2004PNAS..10111040B |doi-access=free }}</ref>
The white-winged robin was [[species description|formally described]] in 1890 as ”Poecilodryas sigillata” by English naturalist [[Charles Walter De Vis]].<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1986 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=11 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=578 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14484279 }}</ref> The specific epithet is from [[Latin]] meaning “adorned with little figures” from “sigilla” meaning “image”, “little figure” or “mark”.<ref>{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=sophiae | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=sigillata | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=14 November 2025 }}</ref> The species is a member of the Australasian robin family [[Petroicidae]].<ref name=Boles35>* {{cite book |title=The Robins and Flycatchers of Australia |last=Boles |first=Walter E.|year=1988 |publisher=Angus & Robertson |location=Sydney |isbn=0-207-15400-7|page=35}}</ref><ref name=avilist>{{ cite web | author=AviList Core Team | date=2025 | title=AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025 | doi=10.2173/avilist.v2025 | doi-access=free | url=http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ | access-date=14 November 2025 }}</ref> [[Charles Sibley|Sibley]] and [[Jon Ahlquist|Ahlquist]]’s [[DNA-DNA hybridisation]] studies placed this group in a [[Corvida]] [[parvorder]] comprising many tropical and Australian passerines, including [[Pardalotidae|pardalotes]], [[Maluridae|fairy-wrens]], [[Meliphagidae|honeyeaters]], and crows.<ref name=”SibAhl”>{{cite book|vauthors=Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE|title=Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution |publisher= Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CT|year=1990|pages=603, 610–27|isbn=0-300-04085-7}}</ref> However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the [[Passerida]] (or “advanced” songbirds) within the [[songbird]] lineage.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Barker, F. Keith |author2=Cibois, Alice |author3=Schikler, Peter A. |author4=Feinstein, Julie |author5=Cracraft, Joel |name-list-style=amp |year=2004|title=Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] |volume=101 |issue=30 |pages=11040–45 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0401892101 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0401892101v1.pdf |access-date=2008-08-14 |pmid=15263073 |pmc=503738|bibcode=2004PNAS..10111040B |doi-access=free }}</ref>
