Citizendia

Honeyeaters
Eastern Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
Eastern Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Suborder:Passeri
Family:Meliphagidae
Vigors, 1825
Genera[4]

The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in Australia and New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Hawaii, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea. The Eastern Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, is a species of Honeyeater found in south-eastern Australia in forest and woodland areas as well Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. SongBird is a Dutch Record label owned by Tijs Verwest and Arny Bink Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 &ndash October 26, 1840) was an Irish Zoologist and Politician. The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater ( Acanthagenys rufogularis) is the only species in the genus Acanthegenys Spinebill is name given to two members of the Honeyeater family both in the genus Acanthorhynchus, the name of which means literally "spine bill" Wattlebirds are members of the Honeyeater family and native to Australia. The New Zealand Bellbird ( Korimako) is a Passerine Bird endemic to New Zealand. UserPolbot. -->The Gibberbird ( Ashbyia lovensis) is a species of Bird endemic to Australia UserPolbot. --> Certhionyx is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family The Kioea, Chaetoptila angustipluma was a member of the Hawaiian Honey-eater family that became extinct around 1859 UserPolbot. --> Conopophila is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family The Blue-faced Honeyeater ( Entomyzon cyanotis) also colloquially known as Bananabird, is a Passerine bird of the Honeyeater family Meliphagidae UserPolbot. --> Epthianura is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. -->The Wattled Honeyeater ( Foulehaio carunculatus) is a species of Bird in the Meliphagidae UserPolbot. -->The Green-backed Honeyeater ( Glycichaera fallax) is a species of Bird in the Meliphagidae UserPolbot. -->The Painted Honeyeater ( Grantiella picta) is a species of Bird in the Meliphagidae UserPolbot. -->The Guadalcanal Honeyeater ( Guadalcanaria inexpectata) is a species of Bird in the Gymnomyza (Reichenow 1914 is a Genus of Honeyeaters ( Meliphagidae) Lichenostomus is a relatively large genus of Honeyeaters (only Myzomela has more members UserPolbot. --> Lichmera is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family The Macgregor's Bird of Paradise, Macgregoria pulchra, also known as Macgregor's Giant Honeyeater, is a large (up to 40cm long black Crow -like bird with Manorina is a genus of Australian endemic Honeyeaters, containing four species the Black-eared Miner, M UserPolbot. --> Melidectes is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. -->The Long-billed Honeyeater ( Melilestes megarhynchus) is a species of Bird in the Meliphagidae UserPolbot. --> Meliphaga is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. --> Melipotes is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. --> Melithreptus is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. --> The White-streaked Friarbird ( Melitograis gilolensis) is a species of Bird in the Meliphagidae The ‘Ō‘ō s ( Moho) are a Genus of now extinct birds originated from a group of Australian honeyeaters (Meliphagidade which were probably drifted by tropical UserPolbot. --> Myza is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. --> Myzomela is a genus of Bird in the Honeyeater family Meliphagidae. UserPolbot. -->The Orange-cheeked Honeyeater ( Oreornis chrysogenys) is a species of Bird in the The friarbirds (also called leatherhead are about 15 species of relatively large Honeyeaters in the genus Philemon. The genus Phylidonyris is a member of the Honeyeater family The Striped Honeyeater, ( Plectorhyncha lanceolata) is a Honeyeater native to Australia. The Tui ( Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) is an endemic Passerine Bird of New Zealand. UserPolbot. --> Ptiloprora is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. --> Pycnopygius is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. --> Ramsayornis is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. -->The Bougainville Honeyeater ( Stresemannia bougainvillei) is a species of Bird in the UserPolbot. --> Timeliopsis is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family UserPolbot. -->The White-streaked Honeyeater ( Trichodere cockerelli) is a species of Bird in the The Regent Honeyeater, Xanthomyza phrygia, is an Endangered Australian Bird. UserPolbot. --> Xanthotis is a genus of Bird in the Meliphagidae family For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water Straits from the Asian and Australian Bali, on the other side of the Wallace Line, has a single species. Bali is an Indonesian Island located at, the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to The Wallace Line (or Wallace's Line) is a boundary that separates the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Australia.

Honeyeaters and the Australian chats make up the family Meliphagidae. In Biological classification, family ( Latin In total there are 182 species in 42 genera, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic With their closest relatives, the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens), Pardalotidae (pardalotes), and Acanthizidae (thornbills, Australian warblers, scrubwrens, etc) they comprise the superfamily Meliphagoidea and originated early in the evolutionary history of the oscine passerine radiation. The Maluridae are a family of small insectivorous Passerine Birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. The large and diverse Passerine bird family Pardalotidae includes the Pardalotes Scrubwrens Thornbills Gerygones and allies The Acanthizidae, also known as the Australasian Warblers, are a family of passerine birds which include Gerygones Thornbills and Scrubwrens Meliphagoidea is a Superfamily of Passerine birds They contain a vast diversity of small to mid-sized Songbirds widespread in the Austropacific region SongBird is a Dutch Record label owned by Tijs Verwest and Arny Bink [5]

Although honeyeaters look and behave very much like other nectar-feeding passerines around the world (such as the sunbirds and flowerpeckers), they are unrelated, and the similarities are the consequence of convergent evolution. The sunbirds and '''spiderhunters''' are very small Passerine Birds which feed largely on Nectar, although they will also take insects especially The flowerpeckers are a family of Passerine Birds found in tropical southern Asia and Australasia from India east to the Philippines Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages

Unlike the hummingbirds 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. Hummingbirds are Birds in the family Trochilidae, and are endemic to the Americas. 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, longer in some species than others, 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.

The extent of the evolutionary partnership between honeyeaters and Australasian flowering plants is unknown, but probably substantial. The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 20000 vascular and 14000 Non-vascular plants 250000 species of A great many Australian plants are fertilised by honeyeaters, particularly the Proteacae, Myrtaceae, and Epacridacae. Proteaceae is a family of Flowering plants. Mainly restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, it is a fairly large family with around 80 genera The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of Dicotyledon Plants placed within the order Myrtales. It is known that the honeyeaters are important in New Zealand as well, and assumed that the same applies in other areas.

In addition to nectar, all or nearly all honeyeaters take insects and other small creatures, usually by hawking, sometimes by gleaning. Hawking, or hawking insects, is the primary feeding strategy for some birds including most typical Nightjars and some Old World flycatchers Monarch Gleaning, or gleaning insects, is a common feeding strategy for some groups of birds including most Flycatchers This behaviour can be contrasted with hawking A few of the larger species, notably the White-eared Honeyeater, and the Strong-billed Honeyeater of Tasmania, probe under bark for insects and other morsels. The White-eared Honeyeater ( Lichenostomus leucotis) is an Australian bird found in south east Australia south west Australia an into south west of Queensland UserPolbot. -->The Strong-billed Honeyeater ( Melithreptus validirostris) is a species of Bird in the Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name It is located south of the eastern side of the Continent, being separated from it by Bass 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 is a mistletoe specialist. UserPolbot. -->The Painted Honeyeater ( Grantiella picta) is a species of Bird in the Meliphagidae Mistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic Plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the Most, however, exist on a diet of nectar supplemented by varing quantities of insects. In general, the honeyeaters with long, fine bills are more nectarivous, the shorter-billed species less so, but even specialised nectar eaters like the spinebills take extra insects to add protein to their diet when they are breeding. Spinebill is name given to two members of the Honeyeater family both in the genus Acanthorhynchus, the name of which means literally "spine bill"

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.

The genus Apalopteron (Bonin Honeyeater), formerly treated in the Meliphagidae, has recently been transferred to the Zosteropidae on genetic evidence. The Bonin White-eye Apalopteron familiare or is a small yellow and grey bird endemic to the Ogasawara Islands (formerly Bonin Islands of Japan The white-eyes are small Passerine Birds native to tropical subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia The genus Notiomystis (New Zealand Stitchbird), formerly classified in the Meliphagidae, has recently been removed to the newly-erected Notiomystidae of which it is the only member. The Stitchbird or Hihi ( Notiomystis cincta) is a rare Honeyeater -like Bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent The Stitchbird or Hihi ( Notiomystis cincta) is a rare Honeyeater -like Bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent [6] The "Macgregor's bird-of-paradise," historically considered a bird of paradise (Paradisaeidae), was recently found to be a honeyeater. The birds of paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The birds of paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. [7] It is now known as "Macgregor's Giant Honeyeater" and is classified in the Meliphagidae. The Macgregor's Bird of Paradise, Macgregoria pulchra, also known as Macgregor's Giant Honeyeater, is a large (up to 40cm long black Crow -like bird with The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in Australia and New Guinea,

A new taxon of honeyeater, not yet described but apparently close to the Smoky Honeyeater, has been discovered in December 2005 in the Foja Mountains of Papua, Indonesia. A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to UserPolbot. -->The Smoky Honeyeater ( Melipotes fumigatus) is a species of Bird in the Meliphagidae The Foja Mountains or Foja Range (Pegunungan Foja is located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. Papua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands (see also The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. [1]

Species of Meliphagidae (Part of the Meliphagoidea superfamily)[8]

OBS: The list is partial, with most non-Australian members missing. Meliphagoidea is a Superfamily of Passerine birds They contain a vast diversity of small to mid-sized Songbirds widespread in the Austropacific region

References

  1. ^ Recent molecular phylogenetic work by Driskell & Christidis 2004, indicates this genus is non-monophyletic and will undergo taxonomic revision in the near future.
  2. ^ Recent molecular phylogenetic work by Driskell & Christidis 2004, indicates this genus is non-monophyletic and will undergo taxonomic revision in the near future.
  3. ^ Recent molecular phylogenetic work by Driskell & Christidis 2004, indicates Xanthomyza phrygia is contained within the genus Anthochaera and this species will be listed as Anthochaera phrygia in the next species list of Australian birds (L. Christids, pers. comm. )
  4. ^ as listed in Sibley & Monroe 1990
  5. ^ Barker et al. 2004
  6. ^ Driskell et al. 2007
  7. ^ Cracraft & Feinstein 2000
  8. ^ from Christidis & Boles 1994, and Sibley & Monroe 1990
  9. ^ based on molecular evidence, will be reclassified into the genus Cissomela
  10. ^ based on molecular evidence, will be reclassified into the genus Sugomel

External links

The Maluridae are a family of small insectivorous Passerine Birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea.
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic