Meliphagidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Cladus: Telluraves
Cladus: Australaves
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Infraordo: Corvida
Superfamilia: Meliphagoidea

Familia: Meliphagidae
Genera: Acanthagenys - Acanthorhynchus - Anthochaera - Anthornis – Ashbyia – Bolemoreus – Caligavis – Certhionyx – Cissomela – Conopophila – Entomyzon – Epthianura – Foulehaio – Gavicalis – Gliciphila – Glycichaera – Glycifohia – Grantiella – Guadalcanaria – Gymnomyza – Lichenostomus – Lichmera – Macgregoria – Manorina – Meliarchus – Melidectes – Melilestes – Meliphacator – Meliphaga – Melionyx – Melipotes – Melithreptus – Melitograis – Microptilotis – Myza – Myzomela – Nesoptilotis – Oreornis – Philemon – Phylidonyris – Plectorhyncha – Prosthemadera – Ptiloprora – Ptilotula – Purnella – Pycnopygius – Ramsayornis – Stomiopera – Stresemannia – Sugomel – Territornis – Timeliopsis – Trichodere – Vosea – Xanthotis

Genera moved to other familiae:

Zosteropidae: Apalopteron
†Mohoidae: †Chaetoptila – †Moho

Name

Meliphagidae Vigors, 1825
Synonymy

Ephthianuridae Legge, 1887
References
Primary references

Vigors, N.A. 1825. Observations on the Natural Affinities that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 14(3): 395–517. BHL Reference page. p. 463

Additional references

Cracraft, J. & Feinstein, J. 2000. What is not a bird of paradise? Molecular and morphological evidence places Macgregoria in the Meliphagidae and the Cnemophilinae near the base of the corvoid tree. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 267: 233-241. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2000.0992 ResearchGate Reference page.
LeCroy, M., 2011: Type Specimens of Birds in the American Museum of Natural History Part 9. Passeriformes: Zosteropidae and Meliphagidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History Number 348: 1–184. DOI: 10.1206/724.1
Nyári, A.S. & Joseph, L. 2011. Systematic dismantlement of Lichenostomus improves the basis for understanding relationships within the honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) and the historical development of Australo-Papuan communities. Emu 111: 202–211. DOI: 10.1071/MU10047 ResearchGate Reference page.
Andersen, M.J., Naikatini, A. & Moyle, R.G. 2014. A molecular phylogeny of Pacific honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) reveals extensive paraphyly and an isolated Polynesian radiation. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 71: 308–315. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2013.11.014 ResearchGate Reference page.
Andersen, M.J., McCullough, J.M., Friedman, N.R., Peterson, A.T., Moyle, R.G., Joseph, L. & Nyári, A.S. 2019. Ultraconserved elements resolve genus-level relationships in a major Australasian bird radiation (Aves: Meliphagidae). Emu 119(3): 218–232. DOI: 10.1080/01584197.2019.1595662 Paywall Reference page.
McCullough, J.M., Joseph, L., Moyle, R.G. & Andersen, M.J. 2019. Ultraconserved elements put the final nail in the coffin of traditional use of the genus Meliphaga (Aves: Meliphagidae). Zoologica Scripta. 48(4): 411–418. DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12350 Open access Reference page.

Vernacular names
čeština: Kystráčkovití
Deutsch: Honigfresser
English: Honeyeaters
español: Mielero
suomi: Mesikot
français: Meliphagidae
Bahasa Indonesia: Burung penghisap madu
日本語: ミツスイ科
lietuvių: Medlesiniai
македонски: Медојади
Nederlands: Honingeters
português: Papa-mel
Türkçe: Bal kuşugiller
中文: 吸蜜鸟科

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, and found also in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea. Bali, on the other side of the Wallace Line, has a single species.[2][3]

In total, there are 186 species in 55 genera, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea.[4][5] 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.[6] 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 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 Proteaceae, Myrtaceae, and Ericaceae. It is known that the honeyeaters are important in New Zealand (see Anthornis) as well, and assumed that the same applies in other areas.
Description
A female eastern spinebill feeding. Honeyeaters typically hang from branches while feeding on nectar.

Honeyeaters can be either nectarivorous, insectivorous, frugivorous, or a combination of nectar- and insect-eating.[7] 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. 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, 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 hawking, sometimes by gleaning. 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. Many species supplement their diets with a little fruit, and a small number eat considerable amounts of fruit,[8] particularly in tropical rainforests and, oddly, in semi-arid scrubland. The painted honeyeater is a mistletoe 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 nectarivorous, the shorter-billed species less so, but even specialised nectar eaters like the spinebills take extra insects to add protein to their diet when 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.
Taxonomy and systematics
See also: List of honeyeaters

The genera Cleptornis (golden honeyeater) and Apalopteron (Bonin honeyeater), formerly treated in the Meliphagidae, have recently been transferred to the Zosteropidae 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.[9] The "Macgregor's bird-of-paradise", historically considered a bird-of-paradise (Paradisaeidae), was recently found to be a honeyeater.[10] It is now known as "MacGregor's honeyeater" and is classified in the Meliphagidae.

The wattled smoky honeyeater (Melipotes carolae), described in 2007, had been discovered in December 2005 in the Foja Mountains of Papua, Indonesia.[11]

In 2008, a study that included molecular phylogenetic analysis of museum specimens in the genera Moho and Chaetoptila, 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 Mohoidae.[12]
References

Sibley, C.G. and Monroe, B.L. Jr. (1990). Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-04969-2.
Andersen, M.J.; Naikatini, A.; Moyle, R.C. (2014). "A molecular phylogeny of Pacific honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) reveals extensive paraphyly and an isolated Polynesian radiation". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 71: 308–315. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.11.014. PMID 24315868.
Del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A. and Christie D. (editors). (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2
Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Honeyeaters". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
Hay, Eleanor M.; McGee, Matthew D.; Chown, Steven L. (2022). "Geographic range size and speciation in honeyeaters". BMC Ecology and Evolution. 22 (1): 86. doi:10.1186/s12862-022-02041-6. PMC 9245323. PMID 35768772. S2CID 250147316.
Barker, F.K.; Cibois, A.; Schikler, P.; Feinstein, J.; Cracraft, J. (2004). "Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 101 (30): 11040–11045. Bibcode:2004PNAS..10111040B. doi:10.1073/pnas.0401892101. PMC 503738. PMID 15263073.
Driskell, Amy C.; Christidis, Les (2004). "Phylogeny and evolution of the Australo-Papuan honeyeaters (Passeriformes, Meliphagidae)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 31 (3): 943–960. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.10.017. PMID 15120392. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2012.
Lindsey, Terence (1991). Forshaw, Joseph (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. p. 208. ISBN 1-85391-186-0.
Driskell, A.C.; Christidis, L.; Gill, B.; Boles, W.E.; Barker, F.K.; Longmore, N.W. (2007). "A new endemic family of New Zealand passerine birds: adding heat to a biodiversity hotspot". Australian Journal of Zoology. 55 (2): 1–6. doi:10.1071/zo07007.
Cracraft, J.; Feinstein, J. (2000). "What is not a bird of paradise? Molecular and morphological evidence places Macgregoria in the Meliphagidae and the Cnemophilinae near the base of the corvoid tree". Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 267 (1440): 233–241. doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.0992. PMC 1690532. PMID 10714877.
Beehler, B.; Prawiradilaga, D.; de Fretes, Y.; Kemp, N. (2007). "A new species of smoky honeyeater (Meliphagidae: Melipotes) from western New Guinea". The Auk. 124 (3): 1000–1009. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2007)124[1000:ansosh]2.0.co;2. S2CID 85753152.

Fleischer, R. C.; James, H. F.; Olson, S. L. (2008). "Convergent Evolution of Hawaiian and Australo-Pacific Honeyeaters from Distant Songbird Ancestors". Current Biology. 18 (24): 1927–1931. Bibcode:2008CBio...18.1927F. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.10.051. PMID 19084408.

Further reading
Ford, H.A. (2001). "Family Meliphagidae honeyeaters and Australian chats" (PDF). In Higgins, Peter J.; Peter, Jeffrey M.; Steele, W.K. (eds.). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 5: Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. 457–461. ISBN 0-19-553258-9.