| Western White-naped Honeyeater | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Meliphagidae |
| Genus: | Melithreptus |
| Species: | M. chloropsis |
| Binomial name | |
| Melithreptus chloropsis (Gould, 1844) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Western White-naped Honeyeater (Melithreptus chloropsis), also known as the Swan River Honeyeater, is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to south-western Australia.
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The Western White-naped Honeyeater was originally described by John Gould in 1844, who gave it the species name chloropsis from the Ancient Greek terms chloros "green-yellow" and opsis "eye". He called it the Swan River Honeyeater. Treated as a subspecies of the White-naped Honeyeater for many years, it was found in a 2010 study to have diverged early on from the lunatus complex. It forms a superspecies with the White-naped and Black-headed Honeyeaters.[1]
Gould called it the Swan River Honeyeater, and noted the species was known by various local indigenous names, including Jingee (lowland), Bun-geen (mountains), and Berril-berril (Swan River).[2] Gregory Mathews coined the name Melithreptus whitlocki in 1909.[3]
It is a member of the genus Melithreptus with several species, of similar size and (apart from the Brown-headed Honeyeater) black-headed appearance, in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The next closest relative outside the genus is the much larger but similarly marked Blue-faced Honeyeater.[4] More recently, DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in a large Meliphagoidea superfamily.[5]
A mid-sized honeyeater, it is olive green above and white below, with a black head, nape and throat and a white patch over the eye and a white crescent-shaped patch on the nape, thinner than other species. The bill is brownish-black and the eyes a dull red.[2]
The honeyeater is found in the south-west corner of Western Australia where it ranges from Moora in the north, through the Jarrah forest belt to Broomehill, the Stirling Range and along the coast to Stokes Inlet.[6] It inhabits dry sclerophyll forests.[2]
It forages in the foliage and canopy of eucalypts for insects and nectar.[2]
The cup-shaped nests are located in the branches of trees, often hidden in foliage.[2] The nests are usually made of bark fibres, rootlets and dry grasses at a height of up to 10 m above the ground. The clutch is of two, occasionally three, pale buff eggs marked with reddish-brown and grey spots and blotches, 18 x 144 mm in size. Eggs may be found from November to January; the incubation period is 14 days, with the young remaining in the nest about another 14.[6]
The honeyeater has a harsh, grating call as well as a continuously uttered, single-noted 'tsip'.[6]