Meliphaga

Yellow-spotted honeyeater Meliphaga notata, photographed by David & Diane Armbrust.

Belongs within: Meliphagidae.

Meliphaga is a genus of honeyeaters found from Indonesia to northern and eastern Australia. Members of this genus have prevailingly uniform olive-green plumage marked only by rounded flavonoid ear plumes and gape stripes (Schodde & Mason 1999).

<==Meliphaga Lewin 1808 [incl. Ptilotis Swainson 1837; Ptilotidae] B94
    |--+--M. aruensis JT12
    |  `--+--M. lewinii JT12
    |     |    |--M. l. lewinii M03
    |     |    |--M. l. amphochlora M03
    |     |    |--M. l. mab M03
    |     |    `--M. l. nea M03
    |     `--M. notata JT12
    |          |--M. n. notata M03
    |          `--M. n. mixta M03
    `--+--+--+--M. albonotata JT12
       |  |  `--M. gracilis (Gould 1866) JT12, G66a [=Ptilotis gracilis G66a]
       |  |       |--M. g. gracilis M03
       |  |       `--M. g. imitatrix M03
       |  `--+--M. analoga JT12
       |     `--M. orientalis JT12
       `--+--+--M. mimikae JT12
          |  `--M. montana JT12
          `--+--M. flavirictus JT12
             `--+--M. albilineata JT12
                |    |--M. a. albilineata M03
                |    `--M. a. fordiana M03
                `--M. reticulata JT12

Meliphaga incertae sedis:
  M. cassidix A61 [=Ptilotis cassidix G66b]
  ‘Ptilotis’ chrysotis G66a
  M. cratitia (Gould 1840) (see below for synonymy) WS48
  M. fasciogularis FJO08
  M. flavescens (Gould 1839) [=Ptilotis flavescens; incl. P. flavescens wyndhami Mathews 1912] WS48
  M. keartlandi (North 1895) (see below for synonymy) WS48
  M. leucotis (Latham 1801) (see below for synonymy) WS48
  M. ornata (Gould 1838) (see below for synonymy) WS48
  M. penicillata Gould 1837 (see below for synonymy) WS48
  M. plumula (Gould 1841) (see below for synonymy) WS48
  ‘Ptilotis’ similis G66a
  M. unicolor SJ85
  M. vicina JT12
  M. virescens (Vieillot 1817) (see below for synonymy) WS48

Meliphaga cratitia (Gould 1840) [=Ptilotis cratitius; incl. Lichenostomus occidentalis Cabanis 1851, P. cratitia stirlingi Mathews 1912] WS48

Meliphaga keartlandi (North 1895) [=Ptilotis keartlandi; incl. Sacramela keartlandi cloatesensis Mathews 1923, P. keartlandi mungi Mathews 1912] WS48

Meliphaga leucotis (Latham 1801) [=Turdus leucotis; incl. Ptilotis novaenorciae Milligan 1904, Nesoptilotis leucotis woolundra Mathews 1922] WS48

Meliphaga ornata (Gould 1838) [=Ptilotis ornatus; incl. P. ornata munna Mathews 1912, P. ornata wesleydalei Mathews 1913] WS48

Meliphaga penicillata Gould 1837 [incl. Ptilotis penicillata calconi Mathews 1912, P. carteri Campbell 1899, P. geraldtonensis Ashby 1921, P. penicillata ladasi Mathews 1912] WS48

Meliphaga plumula (Gould 1841) [=Ptilotis plumulus; incl. P. chrysotis andersoni Mathews 1912, P. planasi Campbell 1910] WS48

Meliphaga virescens (Vieillot 1817) [=Melithreptus virescens; incl. Ptilotis sonora broomei Mathews 1912, Meliphaga virescens glauerti Mathews 1942, Meliphaga virescens hartogi Mathews 1920, P. insularis Milligan 1911, Meliphaga virescens lewisi Mathews 1942, Meliphaga virescens lipferti Mathews 1942, P. sonora murchisoni Mathews 1912, Meliphaga vittata Bonaparte 1854] WS48

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Austin, O. L., Jr. 1961. Birds of the World: A survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families. Paul Hamlyn: London.

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

[FJO08] Fleischer, R. C., H. F. James & S. L. Olson. 2008. Convergent evolution of Hawaiian and Australo-Pacific honeyeaters from distant songbird ancestors. Current Biology 18: 1-5.

[G66a] Gould, J. 1866a. Additions to the list of the avifauna of Australia, with descriptions of three new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 217-218.

[G66b] Gould, J. 1866b. Exhibition of Ptilotis cassidix, and other rare Australian species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 558.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444-448.

[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.

[SJ85] Storr, G. M., & R. E. Johnstone. 1985. Field Guide to the Birds of Western Australia 2^nd ed. Western Australian Museum: Perth (Australia).

[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.