Meliphaga Explained

Meliphaga is a genus of birds in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae.

The genus was introduced by the English artist John Lewin in 1808.^[1] The name Meliphaga combines the Ancient Greek meaning "honey" and meaning eating.^[2] The type species is Lewin's honeyeater (Meliphaga lewinii).^{[3] [4]} The genus contains three species:^[5]

• Puff-backed honeyeater (Meliphaga aruensis)
• Yellow-spotted honeyeater (Meliphaga notata)
• Lewin's honeyeater (Meliphaga lewinii)

The genus formerly included additional species. When molecular phylogenetic studies found that Meliphaga contained two distinct clades, the genus was split and most of the species were moved to the resurrected genus Microptilotis leaving just three species in Meliphaga.^{[5] [6] [7]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Lewin, John William . John Lewin . Birds of New Holland, with their natural history . 1 (of one) . London . Printed for the author and published by J. White and S. Bagster . 7 .
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . limited . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 249 .
3. Book: Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1986 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 12 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 364 .
4. Book: Gray, George Robert . George Robert Gray . 1840 . A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus . 1st . London . R. and J.E. Taylor . 15 .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . 2020 . Honeyeaters . IOC World Bird List Version 10.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 22 February 2020 .
6. 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 . 10.1080/01584197.2019.1595662 . 2019EmuAO.119..218A . 150056949 .
7. 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 . 10.1111/zsc.12350 . free .