The sooty honeyeater (''Melionyx fuscus'') 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 found in the

New Guinea Highlands The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, is a long chain of mountain ranges on the island of New Guinea, including the island's tallest peak, Puncak Jaya , the highest mountain in Oceania. The range is home ...

. 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

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

. This species was formerly placed in the genus ''

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- ...

''. It was moved to the resurrected genus ''

Melionyx ''Melionyx'' is a genus of bird in the family Meliphagidae. These species were formerly placed in the genus ''Melidectes''. They were moved to the resurrected genus ''Melionyx '' based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylo ...

'' based on the results of 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 ...

study published in 2019. At the same time the common name was changed from "sooty melidectes" to "sooty honeyeater".

References

sooty melidectes Birds of New Guinea

sooty honeyeater The sooty honeyeater (''Melionyx fuscus'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is found in the New Guinea Highlands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. This species was formerly placed in the ge ...

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Meliphagidae-stub