The Mussau monarch (''Symposiachrus menckei''), also known as the white-breasted monarch, 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

Monarchidae The monarchs (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivorous songbirds with long tails. They inhabit forest or woodland a ...

. 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 ...

to the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

of Papua New Guinea. 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 ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and rural gardens. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Mussau monarch was originally placed in the genus ''

Monarcha ''Monarcha'' is a genus of bird in the family Monarchidae. They are found in Australia and Melanesia. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Monarcha'' was introduced by naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827 with the black-fac ...

'' until moved to ''Symposiachrus'' in 2009. Alternate names include Mencke's monarch, Mussau Island monarch, Mussau pied monarch and St. Matthias monarch. The species name is after Bruno Mencke who supported the expedition on which the species was collected by Oskar Heinroth.

References

Mussau monarch Birds of New Ireland Province Mussau monarch Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Monarchidae-stub