Topic
Meliphaga
About: Meliphaga is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 12 publications have been published within this topic receiving 424 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: The case for interspecific competition playing a part in the moulding of the niches of species in this genus is strengthened.
Abstract: Six species of Meliphaga studied in detail in South Australia all differ in some important aspect of their ecology consistent with the concept of interspecific competition. Four species are very similar in their feeding ecology but show distinct habitat preferences. The two remaining species are rather different in their feeding ecology and frequently overlap with their congeners in habitat. Two other species, not studied in detail, also appear to have distinct habitat preferences.
One species has increased its range of habitat on Kangaroo Island, in the absence of potential competitors.
The case for interspecific competition playing a part in the moulding of the niches of species in this genus is thus strengthened.
66 citations
TL;DR: Revisional, distributional and ecological data are given on fourteen species of passerine birds from Western Australia.
Abstract: Revisional, distributional and ecological data are given on fourteen species of passerine birds from Western Australia, viz Drymodes brunneopygia, Pomatostomus superciliosus, Eopsaltria australis, Rhipidura fuliginosa, Pachycephala pectoralis, Psophodes nigrogularis, Sphenostoma cristatum, Meliphaga ornata, Meliphaga leucotis, Melithreptus brevirostris, Acanthornhynchus superciliosus, Phylidonyris nigra and Anthochaera chrysoptera.
39 citations
TL;DR: The singing honeyeater, a nectar-feeding bird, is common throughout most of Australia and there is considerable geographical variation in weight, the heaviest birds living at the highest latitudes and the lightest birds at the lowest latitudes.
Abstract: The singing honeyeater, a nectar-feeding bird, is common throughout most of Australia. There is considerable geographical variation in weight, the heaviest birds (30 g) living at the highest latitudes (35°S) and the lightest birds (19 g) at the lowest latitudes (16°S). Clinal variation in weight is apparently related to climatic factors (e.g. potential evapotranspiration) in accord with Bergmann's rule. The exceptions are populations on islands and peninsulas which are about 13% heavier than those on the adjacent mainland.
25 citations
TL;DR: Electrophoresis failed to corroborate consistently any of the morphologically based minor lineages in Lichenostomus and identified no consistent alternatives itself, and Evolutionary radiation among the major lineages is traced against the environmental oscillations of the Plio-Pleistocene in Australia and New Guinea.
Abstract: Protein electrophoresis was carried out on 32 of the c. 40 species of meliphagine honeyeaters and integrated with external morphology and ecogeography to clarify component lineages and their inter-relationships. Three primary lineages were identified, corroborating precisely the three controversial genera currently recognised in the Australo-Papuan region: (1) Lichenostomus with 20 species centred in Australian sclerophyllous habitats, (2) Meliphaga with 12 species in lowland New Guinean and Australian rainforests, and (3) Xanthotis with 3 species in Australo-Papuan rainforests. Except for the L. flavus-L. unicolor group, electrophoresis failed to corroborate consistently any of the morphologically based minor lineages in Lichenostomus and identified no consistent alternatives itself. Among the sibling species of Meliphaga, however, it distinguished two principal groups: the M. lewinii clade of two Australian ad one New Guinean species, and the M. analoga clade of seven New Guinean and one Australo-Papuan species and one Australian endemic, M. albilineata, hitherto of disputed position. Ecogeographic support for these groups is demonstrated. Affinities of peripheral taxa not screened electrophoretically are discussed. Evolutionary radiation among the major lineages is traced against the environmental oscillations of the Plio-Pleistocene in Australia and New Guinea.
17 citations
TL;DR: Honeyeaters from mangroves near Townsville, central coastal Queensland, are intermediate in coloration between the Varied HoneyEater Lichenostomus (= Meliphaga) versicolor and the Mangrove Honeyeater L. fasciogularis, suggesting that these taxa may be conspecific.
Abstract: Honeyeaters from mangroves near Townsville, central coastal Queensland, are intermediate in coloration between the Varied Honeyeater Lichenostomus (= Meliphaga) versicolor and the Mangrove Honeyeater L. fasciogularis. This information taken in conjunction with the similarity of their calls and ecology sug- gests that these taxa may be conspecific.
14 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 1993 | 1 |
| 1985 | 1 |
| 1983 | 1 |
| 1979 | 1 |