The white-throated honeyeater (''Melithreptus albogularis'') is a
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 ...
of the honeyeater 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 ...
native to
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 eastern and northern
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 ...
. It is long, olive-green above and white below, with a black head, a white or pale blue patch over the eye, and a white stripe across the nape.
Taxonomy
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, ...
described the white-throated honeyeater in 1848. Its species name comes from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
words ''albus'' 'white', and ''gula'' 'throat'."
English naturalist
Charles Walter De Vis
Charles Walter de Vis (Birmingham, England, 9 May 1829 – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 30 April 1915),
described ''Melithreptus vinitinctus'' from a specimen collected by K. Broadbent in the Kimberley in 1884. This was later synonymized with ''M. albogularis''.
Traditionally, two subspecies have been recognised: subspecies ''albogularis'' from northwestern Australia, the Northern Territory and Cape York, and subspecies ''inopinatus'' from central and southeastern Queensland. However, genetic work published in 2010 surprisingly found that the Carpentarian Barrier (south of the
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...
) fostered a split between lineages east and west of it in the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58
The white-throated honeyeater is a member of the genus ''
Melithreptus
''Melithreptus'' is a genus of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. Its members are native to Australia. It is generally considered to contain seven species, although some authors have classified the related blue-faced honeyeater within th ...
'', with several species of similar size and (apart from the
brown-headed honeyeater
The brown-headed honeyeater (''Melithreptus brevirostris'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Meliphagidae.
It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.
Taxonomy
T ...
) black-headed appearance, in the
honeyeater
The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family (biology), family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Epthianura, Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, Manorina, miners and melidectes. They are ...
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 ...
. Within the genus, it is classified in the subgenus ''Melithreptus'', along with the white-naped, black-headed and
Gilbert's honeyeater
Gilbert's honeyeater (''Melithreptus chloropsis''), also known as the Swan River honeyeater or western white-naped honeyeater, is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to southwestern Australia. A mid-sized honeyeater, it ...
; these all forage for insects in foliage or canopy, rather than on bark or branches, congregate in larger flocks, and are found in more open, dry sclerophyll forests and savannah. They also have smaller feet and a less prominent or missing nuchal bar.
Subspecies ''inopinatus'' differs from subspecies ''albogularis'' by its larger size and duller olive back. Allen Keast noted that the forms followed Gloger's and
Bergmann's rule
Bergmann's rule is an ecogeographical rule that states that within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder environments, while populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer ...
s.
Common names used for this species include white-chinned honeyeater, and (from the late 19th and early 20th century), the gay or gay-tinted honeyeater.
Description
The adult white-throated honeyeater is long, with olive-green or yellow-green upperparts, yellower on the rump, and white throat and underparts, a black head, a blue-white patch of bare skin over the eye, and a white stripe across the nape. The bill is black, the eyes red-brown, and the legs purple-brown. Various calls have been recorded. N.b., Chapman was the winner of the John Hobbs Medal in 2005
Similar species
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
n
Gilbert's honeyeater
Gilbert's honeyeater (''Melithreptus chloropsis''), also known as the Swan River honeyeater or western white-naped honeyeater, is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to southwestern Australia. A mid-sized honeyeater, it ...
s (''Melithreptus chloropsis'') also have a white eye-patch, and so can be difficult to distinguish, but there is no range overlap. Eastern white-naped honeyeaters (''M. lunatus'') have a red eye-patch.
Breeding
Breeding throughout its range, the white-throated honeyeater breeds from July or August to December, or April in northwestern Australia, raising one or two broods a season. The nest is a sturdy cup-shaped structure made of bark and grasses in the fork of a tree. A clutch of two eggs measuring is laid, pinkish with brownish markings.
white-throated honeyeater
The white-throated honeyeater (''Melithreptus albogularis'') is a bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to New Guinea and eastern and northern Australia. It is long, olive-green above and white below, with a black head, a white or pa ...
white-throated honeyeater
The white-throated honeyeater (''Melithreptus albogularis'') is a bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to New Guinea and eastern and northern Australia. It is long, olive-green above and white below, with a black head, a white or pa ...