The Solomons monarch (''Symposiachrus barbatus''), also known as the

black-and-white monarch Black-and-white monarch may refer to: * Hooded monarch The hooded monarch (''Symposiachrus manadensis'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is found on New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland for ...

, 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 to the

Solomon Islands archipelago The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The ...

. 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 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. 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

This species 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 for the Solomons monarch include the black-throated monarch, black-white monarch, pied monarch, Solomon Islands pied monarch and Solomons pied monarch. The alternate name 'pied monarch' should not be confused with the species of the same name (''

Arses kaupi The pied monarch (''Arses kaupi'') is a species of bird in the monarch-flycatcher family, Monarchidae. It is endemic to coastal Queensland in Australia. Taxonomy and systematics The pied monarch was described by John Gould in 1851, who delibe ...

'').

Subspecies

There are two subspecies recognized: * ''S. b. barbatus'' - ( Ramsay, 1879): Found on the main Solomon Islands * Malaita monarch (''S. b. malaitae'') or white-cheeked monarch - ( Mayr, 1931): Formerly classified by some authorities as a separate species in the genus ''

''. Found on

Malaita Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...

(eastern Solomons)

References

Symposiachrus Birds described in 1879 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Monarchidae-stub