Swan River honeyeater

Swan River honeyeater
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Meliphagidae
Genus: Melithreptus
Species: M. chloropsis
Binomial name
Melithreptus chloropsis
(Gould, 1844)
Synonyms
  • Melithreptus whitlocki Mathews, 1909

The Swan River honeyeater (Melithreptus chloropsis), also known as the western white-naped honeyeater, is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to south-western Australia.

Etymology

The Swan River 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]

Taxonomy

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]

Description

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]

Distribution and habitat

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]

Behaviour

Feeding

It forages in the foliage and canopy of eucalypts for insects and nectar.[2]

Breeding

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]

Vocalisations

The honeyeater has a harsh, grating call as well as a continuously uttered, single-noted 'tsip'.[6]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Toon A, Hughes JM, Joseph L (2010). "Multilocus analysis of honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) highlights spatio-temporal heterogeneity in the influence of biogeographic barriers in the Australian monsoonal zone". Molecular Ecology 19 (14): 2980–94. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04730.x. PMID 20609078.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Gould, John (2009). Handbook to the Birds of Australia. BiblioBazaar, LLC. pp. 570–71. ISBN 1-116-37820-5. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
  3. ↑ Mathews, Gregory M. (1909). "Untitled". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 25: 24.
  4. ↑ Driskell, A.C., Christidis, L (2004). "Phylogeny and evolution of the Australo-Papuan honeyeaters (Passeriformes, Meliphagidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31 (3): 943–960. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.10.017. PMID 15120392.
  5. ↑ Barker, F.K., Cibois, A., Schikler, P., Feinstein, J., and Cracraft, J (2004). "Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (USA) 101 (30): 11040–11045. doi:10.1073/pnas.0401892101. PMC 503738. PMID 15263073.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Serventy & Whittell (1976).

Sources