White-naped honeyeater

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White-naped honeyeater

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Meliphagidae
Genus: Melithreptus
Species:
M. lunatus
Binomial name
Melithreptus lunatus
(Vieillot, 1802)

The white-naped honeyeater (Melithreptus lunatus) is a

Meliphagidae native to eastern Australia. Birds from southwestern Australia have been shown to be a distinct species, Gilbert's honeyeater, and the eastern birds are more closely related to the black-headed honeyeater of Tasmania. One of several similar species of black-headed honeyeaters in the genus Melithreptus, it dwells in dry sclerophyll eucalypt
woodland. Its diet consists of nectar from various flowers, and it also feeds on insects.

Taxonomy

The white-naped honeyeater was originally described as Certhia lunata by French ornithologist

Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea.[4]

Gilbert's honeyeater, found in southwest Western Australia, was initially described as a separate species by John Gould in 1844,[5] before being reclassified as a subspecies of the white-naped for many years. However, a molecular study published in 2010 showed that it had diverged before the split of populations in eastern Australia into the white-naped and black-headed honeyeaters.[6]

"White-naped honeyeater" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).[7]

Description

Drinking by the water's edge, SE Queensland

A mid-sized honeyeater at 13–15 cm (5–6 in) in length, it is olive-green above and white below, with a black head, nape and throat, a red patch over the eye, and a white crescent-shaped patch on the nape. It is thinner than other similar species. Juveniles have brownish crowns and an orange base of the bill. Its call is a mjerp mjerp.[8]

Ecology

It is found in eucalypt forest and woodlands. Its diet is principally nectar from a variety of flowers, supplemented by insects and various other invertebrates.

White-naped honeyeaters may nest from July to December, breeding once or twice during this time. The nest is a thick-walled bowl of grasses and bits of bark in the fork of a tall tree, usually a eucalypt. Two or three eggs are laid, 18 mm × 14 mm (0.71 in × 0.55 in) in size, and shiny, buff-pink, sparsely spotted with red-brown.[9]

References

  1. . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Vieillot, L.P. (1802). Oiseaux dorés au a reflets metalliques. (published in 32 parts). Paris Vol. 2 [95].
  3. PMID 15120392
    .
  4. .
  5. ^ Gould, J. (1848). The Birds of Australia. 104 pls. London: J. Gould Vol. 4 [pl. 73].
  6. S2CID 25346288
    .
  7. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2021). "Honeyeaters". World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  8. .
  9. .

External links