Eungella honeyeater explained

The Eungella honeyeater (Bolemoreus hindwoodi) is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae and is endemic to Australia.

This species is found only in a small area of plateau rainforest in the Clarke Range, west of Mackay, in Queensland. Occasionally, this species can be seen foraging on the rainforest margin and adjacent open forest.^[1]

The species name hindwoodi is for Keith Alfred Hindwood (1904–71), an amateur ornithologist, who became the President of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union.^[2]

The birds at Eungella were long considered to be an outlying population of the bridled honeyeater (Bolemoreus frenatus, formerly Lichenostomus frenatus), but they were described as a separate species in 1983.^[3] The story of its discovery is documented here.

'Eungella' (/ˈjʌŋɡɛlə/ YUNG-gel-ə) is believed to be a local Aboriginal word for 'mountain of the mist' or 'land of cloud'.^[4]

The Eungella honeyeater was previously placed in the genus Lichenostomus, but was moved to Bolemoreus after a molecular phylogenetic analysis, published in 2011, showed that the original genus was polyphyletic.^{[5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Morcombe, Michael. Field Guide to Australian Birds, Complete Compact Edition. 2004. Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd.. Archerfield, Australia. 174021559-1. 279.
2. Fraser, I & Gray, J 2013, Australian bird names: a complete guide, CSIRO Press, Collingwood, Vic.
3. Longmore, NW & Boles, WE 1983. 'Description and systematics of the Eungella Honeyeater Meliphaga hindwoodi. A new species of Honeyeater from Central Eastern Queensland, Australia'. Emu, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 59-65.
4. Higgins, PJ, Peter, J & Steele, W (eds) 1999, Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic birds, vol. 5: Tyrant-flycatchers to chats, OUP, Melbourne, pp. 720-4.
5. Nyári . Á.S. . Joseph . L. . 2011 . Systematic dismantlement of Lichenostomus improves the basis for understanding relationships within the honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) and historical development of Australo–Papuan bird communities . Emu . 111 . 3. 202–211 . 10.1071/mu10047. 85333285 .
6. Web site: Gill . Frank . Donsker . David . Honeyeaters . World Bird List Version 6.1 . International Ornithologists' Union. 28 January 2016 .