The honeyeaters are a large and diverse
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the
Australian chats,
myzomela
''Myzomela'' is a genus of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. It is the largest genus of honeyeaters, with 39 species, and the most geographically widespread. It ranges from Indonesia to Australia and into the islands of the Pacific Oce ...
s,
friarbird
The friarbirds, also called leatherheads, are about 15 species of relatively large honeyeaters in the genus ''Philemon''. Additionally, the single member of the genus ''Melitograis'' is called the white-streaked friarbird. Friarbirds are found ...
s,
wattlebird
''Anthochaera'' is a genus of birds in the honeyeater family. The species are endemic to Australia and include the little wattlebird, the red wattlebird, the western wattlebird, and the yellow wattlebird. A molecular phylogenetic study has shown ...
s,
miner
A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...
s and
melidectes
''Melidectes'' is a genus of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. All six species are endemic to New Guinea. The generic name is derived from the Greek ''meli'' for honey and ''dektes'' for beggar or receiver.
Description
They are medium- ...
. They are most common in
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 ...
and
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
, and found also in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, the Pacific islands as far east as
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
and
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lo ...
.
Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
, on the other side of the
Wallace Line
The Wallace Line or Wallace's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and named by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley that separates the biogeographical realms of Asia and Wallacea, a tran ...
, has a single species.
In total there are
186 species in 55
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea.
With their closest relatives, the
Maluridae
The Australasian wrens are a family (biology), family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. While commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the wren, true wrens. The family comprises 32 spec ...
(Australian fairy-wrens),
Pardalotidae (pardalotes), and
Acanthizidae
The Acanthizidae—known as Australian warblers—are a family of passerine birds which includes gerygones, the thornbills ''Acanthiza'', and the scrubwrens of ''Sericornis''. The Acanthizidae family consists of small to medium passerine birds, ...
(thornbills, Australian warblers, scrubwrens, etc.), they comprise the superfamily
Meliphagoidea
__NOTOC__
Meliphagoidea is a superfamily of passerine birds. They contain a vast diversity of small to mid-sized songbirds widespread in the Austropacific region. The Australian Continent has the largest richness in genera and species.
Systemati ...
and originated early in the evolutionary history of the
oscine
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
radiation. Although honeyeaters look and behave very much like other nectar-feeding passerines around the world (such as the
sunbird
Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly ...
s and
flowerpecker
The flowerpeckers are a family, Dicaeidae, of passerine birds. The family comprises two genera, '' Prionochilus'' and '' Dicaeum'', with 50 species in total. The family has sometimes been included in an enlarged sunbird family Nectariniidae. The ...
s), they are unrelated, and the similarities are the consequence of
convergent evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...
.
The extent of the evolutionary partnership between honeyeaters and
Australasian flowering plants is unknown, but probably substantial. A great many Australian plants are fertilised by honeyeaters, particularly the
Proteaceae
The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...
,
Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...
, and
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...
. It is known that the honeyeaters are important in New Zealand (see ''
Anthornis'') as well, and assumed that the same applies in other areas.
Description
![Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris female](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Acanthorhynchus_tenuirostris_female.jpg)
Honeyeaters can be either nectarivorous, insectivorous, frugivorous, or a combination of nectar- and insect-eating. Unlike the
hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...
s of America, honeyeaters do not have extensive adaptations for hovering flight, though smaller members of the family do hover hummingbird-style to collect nectar from time to time. In general, honeyeaters prefer to flit quickly from perch to perch in the outer foliage, stretching up or sideways or hanging upside down at need. Many genera have a highly developed brush-tipped tongue, frayed and fringed with bristles which soak up liquids readily. The tongue is flicked rapidly and repeatedly into a flower, the upper mandible then compressing any liquid out when the bill is closed.
In addition to nectar, all or nearly all honeyeaters take insects and other small creatures, usually by
hawking
Hawking may refer to:
People
* Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist
* Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name)
Film
* ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Ha ...
, sometimes by
gleaning
Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...
. A few of the larger species, notably the
white-eared honeyeater
The white-eared honeyeater (''Nesoptilotis leucotis'') is a medium-sized honeyeater found in Australia. It is a member of the family Meliphagidae (honeyeaters and Australian chats) which has 190 recognised species with about half of them found i ...
, and the
strong-billed honeyeater of
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, probe under bark for insects and other morsels. Many species supplement their diets with a little fruit, and a small number eat considerable amounts of fruit,
particularly in tropical rainforests and, oddly, in semi-arid scrubland. The
painted honeyeater
The painted honeyeater (''Grantiella picta'') is a species of honeyeater in a monotypic genus.
Taxonomy
A member of the family Meliphagidae, ''Grantiella picta'' is the sole species under this genus. The painted honeyeater was first described ...
is a
mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant.
...
specialist. Most, however, exist on a diet of nectar supplemented by varying quantities of insects. In general, the honeyeaters with long, fine bills are more nectarivorous, the shorter-billed species less so, but even specialised nectar eaters like the
spinebills take extra insects to add protein to their diet when breeding.
The movements of honeyeaters are poorly understood. Most are at least partially mobile but many movements seem to be local, possibly between favourite haunts as the conditions change. Fluctuations in local abundance are common, but the small number of definitely migratory honeyeater species aside, the reasons are yet to be discovered. Many follow the flowering of favourite food plants. Arid zone species appear to travel further and less predictably than those of the more fertile areas. It seems probable that no single explanation will emerge: the general rule for honeyeater movements is that there is no general rule.
Taxonomy and systematics
The genera ''
Cleptornis
The golden white-eye (''Cleptornis marchei'') is a species of bird in the white-eye family, white-eye, Zosteropidae. It is the monotypic taxon, only species within the genus ''Cleptornis''. The golden white-eye was once considered to be a honeye ...
'' (golden honeyeater) and ''
Apalopteron'' (Bonin honeyeater), formerly treated in the Meliphagidae, have recently been transferred to the
Zosteropidae
The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the ...
on genetic evidence. The genus ''
Notiomystis
The stitchbird or hihi (''Notiomystis cincta'') is a honeyeater-like bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent offshore islands of New Zealand. Its evolutionary relationships have long puzzled ornithologists, but it is now classed as th ...
'' (New Zealand stitchbird), formerly classified in the Meliphagidae, has recently been removed to the newly erected
Notiomystidae
The stitchbird or hihi (''Notiomystis cincta'') is a honeyeater-like bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent offshore islands of New Zealand. Its evolutionary relationships have long puzzled ornithologists, but it is now classed as th ...
of which it is the only member. The "Macgregor's bird-of-paradise", historically considered a
bird-of-paradise
The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of thi ...
(
Paradisaeidae
The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of this ...
), was recently found to be a honeyeater. It is now known as "
MacGregor's honeyeater" and is classified in the Meliphagidae.
The
wattled smoky honeyeater
The wattled smoky honeyeater or Foja honeyeater (''Melipotes carolae'') is a species of honeyeater with a sooty-grey plumage and a black bill. The most distinctive feature is arguably the extensive reddish-orange facial skin and pendulous wattl ...
(''Melipotes carolae''), described in 2007, had been discovered in December 2005 in the
Foja Mountains
The Foja Mountains (Foja Range, Foya Mountains) ( id, Pegunungan Foja) are located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. The mountains rise to , and have 3,000 square kilometers of old growth tropical rainforest in the inte ...
of
Papua,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
.
In 2008, a study that included molecular phylogenetic analysis of museum specimens in the genera ''
Moho'' and ''
Chaetoptila
The kioea (''Chaetoptila angustipluma'') was a endemic Hawaiian bird that became extinct around the mid-19th century.
Description
The kioea was a large bird, about long, with a long, slightly curved bill. What distinguished the kioea from othe ...
'', both extinct genera endemic to the Hawaiian islands, argued that these five species were not members of the Meliphagidae and instead belong to their own distinct family, the
Mohoidae
Mohoidae, also known as the Hawaiian honeyeaters, is a family of Hawaiian species of recently extinct, nectarivorous songbirds in the genera '' Moho'' (ōō) and '' Chaetoptila'' (kioea). These now extinct birds form their own family, represent ...
.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Honeyeater videoson the Internet Bird Collection
Meliphagoidea– Highlighting relationships of
Maluridae
The Australasian wrens are a family (biology), family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. While commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the wren, true wrens. The family comprises 32 spec ...
on Tree Of Life Web Project
{{Taxonbar, from=Q211670
*
Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors
Bird families