Honeyeaters
Meliphagidae
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, but can also be found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the Indonesian 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.
In total, there are 195 species in 51 genera, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea. 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. 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.
51 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 196 known species
Tūī
genusProsthemadera
Australian Miners
genusManorina
Wattlebirds
genusAnthochaera
Yellow-winged Honeyeaters
genusPhylidonyris
Typical Friarbirds
genusPhilemon
Plumed Honeyeaters
genusPtilotula
Blue-faced Honeyeaters
genusEntomyzon
Spinebills
genusAcanthorhynchus
Meliphaga Honeyeaters
genusMeliphaga
Lichmera Honeyeaters
genusLichmera
Caligavis Honeyeaters
genusCaligavis
New Zealand Bellbirds
genusAnthornis
Dark-headed Honeyeaters
genusMelithreptus
Gavicalis Honeyeaters
genusGavicalis
Myzomelas
genusMyzomela
White-eared and Yellow-throated Honeyeaters
genusNesoptilotis
Acanthagenys
genusAcanthagenys
Australian Chats
genusEpthianura
Purple-gaped and Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters
genusLichenostomus
White-gaped and Yellow Honeyeaters
genusStomiopera
Conopophila Honeyeaters
genusConopophila
Plectorhyncha
genusPlectorhyncha
Bar-breasted and Brown-backed Honeyeaters
genusRamsayornis
Xanthotis Honeyeaters
genusXanthotis
Gliciphila Honeyeaters
genusGliciphila
Purnella
genusPurnella
Bridled and Eungella Honeyeaters
genusBolemoreus
Wattled Honeyeaters
genusFoulehaio
Sugomel
genusSugomel
Certhionyx
genusCerthionyx
Grantiella
genusGrantiella
Melidectes
genusMelidectes
Cissomela
genusCissomela
Smoky Honeyeater and Allies
genusMelipotes
Streaked Honeyeaters
genusPtiloprora
Giant Honeyeaters and Allies
genusGymnomyza
Ashbyia
genusAshbyia
Glycichaera
genusGlycichaera
Myzas
genusMyza
Drab Honeyeaters
genusPycnopygius
Trichodere
genusTrichodere
White-streaked Friarbirds
genusMelitograis
Melilestes
genusMelilestes
Melionyx Honeyeaters
genusMelionyx
Meliphacator
genusMeliphacator
MacGregor's Honeyeaters
genusMacgregoria
Straightbills
genusTimeliopsis
Meliarchus
genusMeliarchus
Vosea
genusVosea
Guadalcanal Honeyeaters
genusGuadalcanaria
Stresemannia
genusStresemannia
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Meliphagidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 12160.