The
honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
and
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
, but also found in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, the Pacific islands as far east as
SamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa , is a country governing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and Savai'i...
and
TongaTonga , officially the Kingdom of Tonga , an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprises 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited, and stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line...
, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as
WallaceaWallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. The islands of Wallacea lie between Sundaland to the west, and Near Oceania including Australia and New Guinea to the south and east...
.
BaliBali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island....
, on the other side of the
Wallace LineThe Wallace Line is a boundary that separates the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Wallacea . West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin are present...
, has a single species.
Honeyeaters and the Australian
chats make up the
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
Meliphagidae. In total there are
182 species in 42
generaIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea.
The
honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
and
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
, but also found in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, the Pacific islands as far east as
SamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa , is a country governing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and Savai'i...
and
TongaTonga , officially the Kingdom of Tonga , an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprises 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited, and stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line...
, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as
WallaceaWallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. The islands of Wallacea lie between Sundaland to the west, and Near Oceania including Australia and New Guinea to the south and east...
.
BaliBali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island....
, on the other side of the
Wallace LineThe Wallace Line is a boundary that separates the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Wallacea . West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin are present...
, has a single species.
Honeyeaters and the Australian
chats make up the
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
Meliphagidae. In total there are
182 species in 42
generaIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea. With their closest relatives, the
MaluridaeThe Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...
(Australian fairy-wrens), Pardalotidae (pardalotes), and
AcanthizidaeThe Acanthizidae, also known as the Australasian warblers, are a family of passerine birds which include gerygones, thornbills, and scrubwrens. The Acanthizidae consists of small to medium passerine birds, with a total length varying between 8 and 19 cm. They have short rounded wings, slender...
(thornbills, Australian warblers, scrubwrens, etc) they comprise the superfamily
MeliphagoideaMeliphagoidea is a superfamily of passerine birds. They contain a vast diversity of small to mid-sized songbirds widespread in the Austropacific region. The Australian Continent has the largest richness in genera and species.-Systematics:...
and originated early in the evolutionary history of the oscine
passerineA passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders:...
radiation.
Although honeyeaters look and behave very much like other nectar-feeding
passerineA passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders:...
s around the world (such as the
sunbirdThe sunbirds and spiderhunters are a family, Nectariniidae, of very small passerine birds. There are 132 species in 15 genera. The family is distributed throughout Africa, southern Asia and just reaches northern Australia. Most sunbirds feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects,...
s and
flowerpeckerThe flowerpeckers are a family, Dicaeidae , of passerine birds. The family comprises two genera, Prionochilus and Dicaeum, with 44 species in total. The family has sometimes been included in an enlarged sunbird family Nectariniidae. The berrypeckers of the family Melanocharitidae and the painted...
s), they are unrelated, and the similarities are the consequence of
convergent evolutionConvergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are similar in...
.
The extent of the evolutionary partnership between honeyeaters and Australasian flowering plants is unknown, but probably substantial. A great many Australian plants are fertilised by honeyeaters, particularly the
ProteaceaeProteaceae is a family of flowering plants. Mainly restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, it is a fairly large family, with around 80 genera but fewer than 2000 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia,...
,
MyrtaceaeThe Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...
, and Epacridaceae. It is known that the honeyeaters are important in New Zealand as well, and assumed that the same applies in other areas.
Characteristics
Unlike the
hummingbirdHummingbirds are among the smallest of birds, and include the smallest extant bird species, the Bee Hummingbirds. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12-90 times per second . They can also fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. Their English name derives...
s 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. 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.
In addition to nectar, all or nearly all honeyeaters take insects and other small creatures, usually by
hawkingHawking, or hawking insects, is the primary feeding strategy for some birds, including most typical nightjars and some Old World flycatchers, monarch flycatchers, and tyrant flycatchers...
, sometimes by
gleaningGleaning, 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 HoneyeaterThe White-eared Honeyeater is an Australian bird found in south east Australia, south west Australia an into south west of Queensland....
, and the
Strong-billed HoneyeaterThe Strong-billed Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is temperate forests.-References:...
of
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 ,...
, probe under bark for insects and other morsels. 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 HoneyeaterThe Painted Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Grantiella.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests....
is a
mistletoeMistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub...
specialist. Most, however, exist on a diet of nectar supplemented by varying 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
spinebillSpinebill is name given to two members of the Honeyeater family, both in the genus Acanthorhynchus, the name of which means literally "spine bill". They are around 15 centimetres in length, and are coloured black, white and chestnut, with a long, downcurved bill. They are native to Australia, with...
s take extra insects to add protein to their diet when they are breeding.
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.
Changes in classification
The genera
Cleptornis and
Apalopteron (Bonin Honeyeater), formerly treated in the Meliphagidae, have recently been transferred to the
ZosteropidaeWhite-eye can refer to:*White-eye , a large family of birds.*White-eye , a species of fish.*White-eye mutation, a mutation in Drosophila melanogaster linked to the X chromosome, found by reciprocal cross breeding experiments in 1906.*A lioness member of the Marsh Pride of lions that have featured...
on genetic evidence. 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 "Macgregor's bird-of-paradise," historically considered a bird of paradise (Paradisaeidae), was recently found to be a honeyeater. It is now known as "Macgregor's Giant Honeyeater" and is classified in the Meliphagidae.
The
Wattled Smoky HoneyeaterThe Wattled Smoky Honeyeater is a species of honeyeater with a sooty-grey plumage and a black bill. The most distinctive feature is arguably the extensive reddish-orange facial skin and pendulous wattle...
(Melipotes carolae), described in 2007, has been discovered in December 2005 in the
Foja MountainsThe Foja Mountains or Foja Range is located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. The mountains rise to 2,193 meters , and contain more than 3,000 square kilometres of old growth tropical rainforest in the interior part of the range.The entire Foja forest tract covers some...
of
PapuaPapua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands...
,
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/photogalleries/newguinea/photo2.html
In 2008, a study that included molecular phylogenetic analysis of museum specimens in the genera
MohoMoho is a genus of extinct birds in the Hawaiian bird family, Mohoidae, that were endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Members of the genus are known as Ōō in the Hawaiian language. Their plumage was generally striking glossy black; some species had yellowish axillary tufts and other black outer...
and
ChaetoptilaThe Kioea, Chaetoptila angustipluma, was a Hawaiian bird that became extinct around 1859. The kioea was in decline even before the discovery of Hawaii by Europeans. Even native Hawaiians are seemingly unfamiliar with this bird. The feathers of the kioea were not used in Hawaiian featherwork, nor is...
, both extinct genera endemic to the Hawaiian islands, argued that these five species were not members of the Meliphagidae and instead belong to their own distinct family, the
MohoidaeMohoidae is a family of Hawaiian species of recently extinct, nectarivorous songbirds in the genera Moho and Chaetoptila...
.
External links
- Honeyeater videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Meliphagoidea - Highlighting relationships of Maluridae
The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...
on Tree Of Life Web Project