The three form a monophyletic group—the subgenus Bulestes[3]—within the genus, having diverged from ancestors of the pied butcherbird around five million years ago.

[2] Gregory Mathews described the Australian population as a separate subspecies kempi in 1912, citing less white plumage on the nape and tail.

[6] American ornithologists Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between woodswallows and the butcherbirds in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade,[7] which became the family Artamidae.

[10] The black-backed butcherbird is found in Cape York Peninsula north of the Palmer River,[9] and in the Trans-Fly region and vicinity of Port Moresby in New Guinea up to altitudes of 600 m (2000 ft).

The clutch consists of two to four (most commonly three) eggs blotched with brown over a base colour of various shades of pale greyish- or brownish-green, or red.