Anthochaera

Red wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata, photographed by David Stowe.

Belongs within: Meliphagidae.

The wattlebirds Anthochaera are a genus of honeyeaters endemic to Australia. The eponymous wattles are present in the red wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata and yellow wattlebird A. paradoxa only; the remaining species lack wattles. Most species are predominantly a streaked grey or brown in coloration; the regent honeyeater A. phrygia of south-eastern Australia has a black head with a large bare patch of warty pink skin around the eye and yellow markings on the wings and tail (Morcombe 2003).

Characters (from Schodde & Mason 1999): Palatines curved and broadly flared, with rather thick stems; interpalatine processes squared off; maxillo-palatine processes prolonged, apically broadened elliptic flaps. Both nasal bar and wing of ectethmoid massively thickened, the latter developed into a huge foot along the jugal, both together almost occluding the latero-nasal aperture; ventral face of ectethmoids grooved to accomodate the mandibular angle. Temporal fossae narrow and elongate, flanked by round-tipped postorbital and zygomatic processes.

<==Anthochaera Vigors & Horsfield 1827 CC10 (see below for synonymy)
    |--+--A. chrysoptera (Latham 1801) JF06, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
    |  |    |--A. c. chrysoptera M03
    |  |    |--A. c. halmaturina M03
    |  |    `--A. c. tasmanica M03
    |  `--A. lunulata Gould 1838 JF06, WS48 [=A. chrysoptera lunulata M03]
    `--+--A. phrygia BKB15 [=Xanthomyza phrygia JF06]
       `--+--A. carunculata (Shaw in White 1790) JF06, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
          |    |--A. c. carunculata WS48
          |    |--A. c. clelandi M03
          |    `--A. c. woodwardi Mathews 1912 [incl. Coleia carunculata perthi Mathews 1923] WS48
          `--A. paradoxa (Daubin 1800) JF06, B94 (see below for synonymy)

Anthochaera Vigors & Horsfield 1827 CC10 [=Acanthochaera Giebel 1872 CC10; incl. Coleia Mathews 1912 non Broderip 1837 CC10, Colena Mathews 1931 CC10, Creadion Vieillot 1816 (nom. rej.) CC10, Creation (l. c.) B94, Dyottornis Mathews 1912 CC10]

Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw in White 1790) JF06, CC10 [=Merops carunculatus CC10, Acanthochaera carunculata CC10, *Coleia carunculata CC10, *Colena carunculata CC10, Creadion carunculatus non Gmelin 1789 CC10; incl. Anthochaera bulleri Finsch 1867 CC10, Mimus carunculatus Buller 1865 non Merops carunculatus Shaw in White 1790 CC10]

Anthochaera chrysoptera (Latham 1801) JF06, WS48 [=Merops chrysopterus WS48; incl. A. chrysoptera albani Mathews 1923 WS48, Certhia mellivora CC10, *A. mellivora CC10]

Anthochaera paradoxa (Daubin 1800) JF06, B94 [=Corvus paradoxus CC10, *Creadion paradoxus CC10, *Dyottornis paradoxus CC10]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[JF06] Jønsson, K. A., & J. Fjeldså. 2006. A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds. Zoologica Scripta 35: 149–186.

[M03] Morcombe, M. 2003. Field Guide to Australian Birds 2^nd ed. Steve Parish Publishing.

Schodde, R., & I. J. Mason. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds: Passerines. CSIRO.

[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.

Last updated: 24 July 2019.