The grey-fronted honeyeater (''Ptilotula plumula'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Meliphagidae The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Guinea ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation. The grey-fronted honeyeater was originally described in 1841 by English ornithologist

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...

as ''Lichenostomus plumulus''. It was moved to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Ptilotula ''Ptilotula '' is a genus of honeyeater consisting of species occurring in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The genus consists of six former members of ''Lichenostomus'', and was created after a molecular analysis showed the genus was polyphylet ...

'' after a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis, published in 2011, showed that ''

Lichenostomus ''Lichenostomus'' is a genus of honeyeaters endemic to Australia. The genus formerly contained twenty species but it was split after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2011 showed that the genus was polyphyletic. Former members were ...

'' was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

Description

The grey-fronted honeyeater is a small, plain honeyeater with a yellow neck plume bordered above by black. It has a small grey patch at the forehead, that may be obscure in northern subspecies. The crown is olive yellow and the lores blackish. The upper parts are olive grey and flight feathers yellow olive. Underparts are off white with indistinct stripes. The grey-fronted honeyeater can easily be confused with the

yellow-tinted honeyeater The yellow-tinted honeyeater (''Ptilotula flavescens'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropi ...

as their ranges overlap and they are of similar size. Differences include the lores which are yellow grey and plumes that are narrower in the yellow-tinted honeyeater.

Gallery

Grey-fronted honeyeater head 0563.jpg, Closeup of head highlighting the small grey patch between the bill and forehead from which the bird gets its common name Grey-fronted honeyeater 7512.jpg, Gregory River, Queensland Lichenostomus plumulus - Grey-fronted honeyeater.jpg, Gregory River, Queensland

References

grey-fronted honeyeater Endemic birds of Australia grey-fronted honeyeater Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Meliphagidae-stub