Long-bearded Honeyeater Melionyx princeps Scientific name definitions

26.5–28.8 cm; one female 42 g. Head, neck and upperparts are black-brown, slightly darker on top and side of head, slightly warmer dark olive-brown on rump and uppertail coverts, and with sparsely feathered small patch beneath eye blackish, finely speckled with white; small patch of bare skin behind eye is orange, with some yellow and pale greenish; upper­tail narrowly tipped brownish-grey on outer edges, and remiges finely edged olive-grey (tips and edges lost with wear); chin and throat covered with long, tufted off-white to white feathers, longest on chin and along side of throat, latter forming long “beard” that reaches almost to angle of folded wing; underbody dark olive-brown, varyingly scalloped with grey-brown, most noticeably on breast and lower belly, with some light rufous-brown mottling or scalloping on undertail coverts; undertail dark olive-brown; underwing dark olive-brown, some faint rufous-brown mottling on coverts, and silvery brownish-grey panel across bases of remiges; iris dark brown to dark reddish-brown; bill black; legs pale grey to pale blue-grey. Juvenile not fully described; immature (or possibly juvenile) said to be sooty black above and washed buff below, especially on belly, with beard dull yellowish-white (not white).

See Sooty Honeyeater (Melionyx fuscus). Monotypic.

East-central New Guinea in Mount Kaijende Highlands (perhaps extending west to Strickland R gorge (1 BirdLife International (2016). IUCN Red List for Birds. Retrieved November 2016 from http://www.birdlife.org Close ) ), Mount Giluwe, Mount Hagen, Kubor Range (including Mount Kubor, Mount Kinkain and Mount Orata, and Minj–Nona Divide), Bismarck Range (Mount Wilhelm), Mount Michael and Kratke Ranges.

High mountain moss forest and woodland, and clumps of shrubs and scrubby forest thickets in alpine grassland, above and below tree-line. Mainly 3,000–3,800 m, but recorded to 4,200 m and extends as low as 2,750 m in Kubor Mountains; on mounts Kubor, Hagen and Wilhelm mainly above 3,050 m, and to at least 3,600 m in Kubor Range.

No indication of any movements; presumed sedentary.

No information.

Nestling found in late July (Mount Hagen) and dependent fledgling mid-June (Mount Wilhelm). No other information.

VULNERABLE. Restrictedrange species: present in Central Papuan Mountains EBA. Very poorly known, and no estimates of global population or trends. Generally described as fairly common within range. Total population thought to be small, confined to a few sites within a small range, and to be declining owing to loss and degradation of its patchy and dissected habitat. The highlands where species occurs have a dense human population; although cultivation stops below altitudinal range in which the species occurs, there may be some habitat degradation from fires, usually started by hunters. No conservation measures known to be under way.