The Tasman Starling (Aplonis fusca) was described in 1836 by John Gould as a species which occurred on both Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. In 1928 Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews recognized that the plumage of the race from Lord Howe Island was much browner and more greyish than the plumage of the Norfolk Island race and split the species into two forms, the Norfolk Starling (Aplonis fusca fusca), and Lord Howe Starling (Aplonis fusca hulliana). Both subspecies are now extinct, thus so the species.