Melifago nucabianca

Identificazione

A mid-sized honeyeater at 13–15 cm (5–6 in) in length, it is olive-green above and white below, with a black head, nape and throat, a red patch over the eye, and a white crescent-shaped patch on the nape. It is thinner than other similar species. Juveniles have brownish crowns and an orange base of the bill. Its call is a mjerp mjerp.

Tassonomia

The white-naped honeyeater was originally described as Certhia lunata by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1802. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin luna, meaning 'moon'; this refers to the crescent-shaped, white marking on its nape. It is a member 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 fairy-wrens) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea.<p>Gilbert's honeyeater, found in southwest Western Australia, was initially described as a separate species by John Gould in 1844, before being reclassified as a subspecies of the white-naped for many years. However, a molecular study published in 2010 showed that it had diverged before the split of populations in eastern Australia into the white-naped and black-headed honeyeaters.<p>"White-naped honeyeater" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).

Nome scientifico

Melithreptus lunatus

Autorità

(Vieillot, 1802)

Ordine

Passeriformi

Famiglia

Meliphagidae

Genere

Melithreptus

Areale e habitat

Migrazione

Complete migrants

Comportamento

It is found in eucalypt forest and woodlands. Its diet is principally nectar from a variety of flowers, supplemented by insects and various other invertebrates.<p>White-naped honeyeaters may nest from July to December, breeding once or twice during this time. The nest is a thick-walled bowl of grasses and bits of bark in the fork of a tall tree, usually a eucalypt. Two or three eggs are laid, 18 mm × 14 mm (0.71 in × 0.55 in) in size, and shiny, buff-pink, sparsely spotted with red-brown.

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione

stable