Honeyeater - Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy and Systematics

The genera Cleptornis and Apalopteron (Bonin Honeyeater), formerly treated in the Meliphagidae, have recently been transferred to the Zosteropidae on genetic evidence. The genus Notiomystis (New Zealand Stitchbird), formerly classified in the Meliphagidae, has recently been removed to the newly-erected Notiomystidae of which it is the only member. The "Macgregor's bird-of-paradise," historically considered a bird of paradise (Paradisaeidae), was recently found to be a honeyeater. It is now known as "Macgregor's Honeyeater" and is classified in the Meliphagidae.

The Wattled Smoky Honeyeater (Melipotes carolae), described in 2007, has been discovered in December 2005 in the Foja Mountains of Papua, Indonesia.

In 2008, a study that included molecular phylogenetic analysis of museum specimens in the genera Moho and Chaetoptila, both extinct genera endemic to the Hawaiian islands, argued that these five species were not members of the Meliphagidae and instead belong to their own distinct family, the Mohoidae.