Mielero cabecinegro

Melithreptus affinis

Un pequeño mielero con la cabeza enteramente negra. Partes superiores oliva con partes inferiores blancas. La coloración negra de la cabeza se corta abruptamente hacia las partes inferiores blancas. Los juveniles carecen de cabeza negra; en su lugar, tienen negro alrededor del ojo y cabeza marrón. Endémica de Tasmania y habita principalmente en bosques más secos de menor altitud.

Identificación

A mid-sized honeyeater, it is olive-green above and white below, with a wholly black head that lacks the white nape of its relatives. It has a blue-white patch of bare skin around the eye. Its beak is small.

Taxonomía

The black-headed honeyeater was described in 1839 as Eidopsarus affinis. John Gould described it as Melithreptus melanocephalus in 1844, likely unaware of its earlier name.<p>Molecular studies show that the black-headed honeyeater is most closely related to the white-naped honeyeater, and that their next closest relative is Gilbert's honeyeater. All are members of the genus Melithreptus, with several species of similar size and (apart from the brown-headed honeyeater) black-headed appearance, in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. The next closest relative outside the genus is the much larger, but similarly marked, blue-faced honeyeater. More recently, DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and the Maluridae (Australian fairywrens) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea.

Nombre científico
Melithreptus affinis
Autoridad
(Lesson, RP, 1839)
Orden
Passeriformes
Familia
Melifágidos
Género
Melithreptus

Distribución y hábitat

The black-headed honeyeater is endemic to Tasmania as well as King Island and the Furneaux Group, where it inhabits wet and dry sclerophyll forests, as well as scrub and heathland, and subalpine habitats to an altitude of 1200 m (4000 ft).

Migración
Resident species

Conservación

Tendencia poblacional
declining

Fotos

Distribución

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