Melanocharitidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Melanocharitidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Suborder: Passeri
Family: Melanocharitidae
Sibley & Ahlquist, 1985
Genera

Melanocharis
Sclater, 1858,
Toxorhamphus
Stresemann, 1914

The Melanocharitidae, the berrypeckers and longbills, is a small bird family restricted to the forests of New Guinea. The family was once placed inside the Flowerpecker family Dicaeidae. It comprises ten species in two genera:

These are medium-sized birds[1] (Melanocharis usually bigger than Toxorhamphus[2]) which feed on fruit and on insects and other invertebrates.[1][2] They have drab-coloured plumage in greys, browns or black and white.[1] The berrypeckers resemble stout short-billed honeyeaters, and the longbills are like drab sunbirds[1] or short-tailed honeyeaters.[2]

Melanocharitidae species are usually seen alone or in pairs.[1] The breeding of some species is undescribed; those that are known breed in the dry season.[2] They build a cup nest,[1][2] usually on a forked branch near the edge of a tree, out of fern scales and plant fibres bound neatly with insect or spider silk and ornamented with lichens.[2] They lay one or two eggs.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Winkler, David W. Melanocharitidae. Bird Families of the World. Cornell University, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kikkawa, Jiro (2003). "Flowerpeckers", in Christopher Perrins (Ed.): Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds. Firefly Books, 584–585. ISBN 1-55297-777-3. 
  This article about a passerine bird is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.