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Lesser Melampitta Melampitta lugubris Scientific name definitions

Walter Boles
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated February 4, 2013

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Field Identification

17–18 cm; 29–32 g. Male has plumage entirely black, forehead glossy, feathers of forehead, forecrown, lores and cheek short and velvety; iris red; bill and legs black. Female differs from male only in having iris dark brown. Juvenile is dark brown or tawny-tinged black above, rusty brown below. Races differ minimally: rostrata has larger bill than others; longicauda has longer tail.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Previously divided into three races, namely nominate (Arfak Mts, in NW New Guinea), rostrata (Weyland Mts and Nassau Range, in WC), and longicauda (Oranje Range E to Huon Peninsula and Owen Stanley Range); but differences minimal (involving measurements) and variation probably clinal (1). Treated as monotypic.

Subspecies


SUBSPECIES

Melampitta lugubris lugubris Scientific name definitions

Distribution

W New Guinea (Arfak Mountains)

SUBSPECIES

Melampitta lugubris rostrata Scientific name definitions

Distribution

W New Guinea (Weyland and Nassau mountains)

SUBSPECIES

Melampitta lugubris longicauda Scientific name definitions

Distribution

New Guinea (Jayawijaya to Owen Stanley Mts. and Huon Pen.)

Distribution

Arfak Mts, in NW New Guinea, and Central Range from Weyland Mts, Oranje Range and Nassau Range E to Huon Peninsula and Owen Stanley Range.

Habitat

Mountain forest and adjoining regrowth with dense undergrowth, particularly gulleys in vicinity of streams; 1150–3500 m, mainly 2000–2800 m.

Movement

Probably sedentary.

Diet and Foraging

Insects, including beetles (Coleoptera) and larvae, and other invertebrates, e.g. worms and small snails; also, small frogs and fruit. Forages on ground; probes, and uses the bill to flip leaves.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song is a gradually descending series of rapid buzzy notes, “zwee-dididididididi”. Probable advertising or contact call is a double clicking note, like the sound of a pebble dropping into water or a loud click of the tongue; also a quiet, short tapping sound when foraging; loud “chit-chit-chit-chit-chit” given by female flushed from nest.

Breeding

Active nests in Oct and Nov and estimated egg-laying period late Sept to early Nov; hatching coincides with wet season. Nest dome-shaped, with side entrance, made from live green moss interwoven with plant roots and tendrils and a few small dry fern fronds, lined with thick cup of fine plant rootlets, placed c. 2 m from ground on side of live tree-fern trunk, nest material woven into trunk and around hanging stems of dead fronds and vines. Clutch 1 egg, chalky white, sparsely marked all over with spots and with small blotches of black, grey and grey-purple, mainly at larger end (sometimes forming irregular wreath), size 27·7–30·2 × 22·6–23·9 mm; incubation and brooding by female alone, fed by male both on and near nest, chicks fed by both adults but not by regurgitation; chicks downy, not naked; incubation period at least 27 days, fledging period c. 35 days.
Not globally threatened. Locally fairly common to common. Apparently absent from some seemingly suitable localities, reasons for which unknown.
Distribution of the Lesser Melampitta - Range Map
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Distribution of the Lesser Melampitta

Recommended Citation

Boles, W. (2020). Lesser Melampitta (Melampitta lugubris), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lesmel1.01
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