White-plumed honeyeater

White-plumed honeyeater
At Sundown National Park, Queensland, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Meliphagidae
Genus: Ptilotula
Species: P. penicillata
Binomial name
Ptilotula penicillata
(Gould, 1837)
Synonyms

Lichenostomus penicillatus

The white-plumed honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillata) is a bird native to Australia. It is yellow above and paler beneath, with a black and white line on the sides of its neck. The white neck band of a white-plumed honeyeater is its most prominent feature, the rest of the feathers being shades of green and buff. Juveniles have a pinkish orange beak that darkens to black in adults. Honeyeaters feed on nectar and insects and their nest is a small cup nest in a tree. The size of an average white-plumed honeyeater is approximately 19 cm.

White-plumed honeyeaters are common around water and are often seen in backyards and suburbs with vegetation cover.[2]

The white-plumed honeyeater was previously placed in the genus Lichenostomus but was moved to Ptilotula after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2011 showed that the original genus was polyphyletic.[3][4]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Lichenostomus penicillatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Lichenostomus-penicillatus
  3. ↑ 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: 202–211. doi:10.1071/mu10047.
  4. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Honeyeaters". World Bird List Version 6.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
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