The friarbirds, also called leatherheads, are a group of 18 relatively large

honeyeater 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 Gui ...

s in the genus ''Philemon''. Additionally, the single member of the genus ''Melitograis'' is called the white-streaked friarbird. Friarbirds are found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, eastern

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. They eat

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and other

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s, flowers, fruit, and seeds. The friarbirds generally have drab

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

. They derive their name from the circular pattern at the crown of their heads and their neutral coloring, which makes them resemble

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

s. In many instances, their plumage is mimicked by smaller orioles, which use the aggressive nature of the friarbirds to avoid aggression themselves.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Philemon'' was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist

Louis Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected ...

. Vieillot did not specify a

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

but this was designated as the Buru friarbird by George Gray in 1840. The genus name is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''philēmōn'' meaning "affectionate" or "kissing". The genus contains the following 16 species: * Meyer's friarbird (''Philemon meyeri'') * Brass's friarbird (''Philemon brassi'') *

Little friarbird The little friarbird (''Philemon citreogularis''), also known as the little leatherhead or yellow-throated friarbird, is the smallest of the friarbirds within the Philemon genus. It is found throughout northern and eastern Australia as well as so ...

(''Philemon citreogularis'') *

Grey friarbird The grey friarbird (''Philemon kisserensis'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to the southern Moluccas: Kisar, Leti and Moa Moa are extinct giant flightless birds native to New Zealand. Moa or MOA may also re ...

(''Philemon kisserensis'') *

Timor friarbird The Timor friarbird or plain friarbird (''Philemon inornatus'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. Habitat It is found on Timor island, where it plays an important cultural role. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry ...

(''Philemon inornatus'') *

Morotai friarbird The Morotai friarbird or dusky friarbird (''Philemon fuscicapillus'') is a species of friarbird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. It is a dark brown bird with pale undersides. The area around the eye is bare and pink. It is around 30 ...

(''Philemon fuscicapillus'') *

Seram friarbird The Seram friarbird (''Philemon subcorniculatus''), also known as the grey-necked friarbird, Ceram friarbird, grey-necked honeyeater and gray-necked honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Indonesia where i ...

(''Philemon subcorniculatus'') * Buru friarbird (''Philemon moluccensis'') *

Tanimbar friarbird The Tanimbar friarbird (''Philemon plumigenis'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to the Kai and Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical ...

(''Philemon plumigenis'') *

Helmeted friarbird The helmeted friarbird (''Philemon buceroides'') is part of the ''Meliphagidae'' family. The helmeted friarbird, along with all their subspecies, is commonly referred to as “leatherhead” by the birding community. Taxonomy The helmeted friarb ...

(''Philemon buceroides'') *

New Britain friarbird The New Britain friarbird (''Philemon cockerelli'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist mont ...

(''Philemon cockerelli'') *

New Ireland friarbird The New Ireland friarbird (''Philemon eichhorni'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist monta ...

(''Philemon eichhorni'') *

Manus friarbird The Manus friarbird (''Philemon albitorques'') or white-naped friarbird, also known as the ''chauka'' ('souka' in Lele, the local language) is a species of bird in the Honeyeater family, or Meliphagidae. It is endemic to the Manus Province of Pa ...

(''Philemon albitorques'') * Silver-crowned friarbird (''Philemon argenticeps'') *

Noisy friarbird The noisy friarbird (''Philemon corniculatus'') is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to southern New Guinea and eastern Australia. It is one of several species known as friarbirds whose heads are bare of feathers. It ...

(''Philemon corniculatus'') * New Caledonian friarbird (''Philemon diemenensis'') Formerly, some authorities also considered the

black-eared oriole The black-eared oriole (''Oriolus bouroensis''), or Buru oriole, is a species of bird in the family Oriolidae. It is native to Buru island. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrov ...

(as ''Philedon bouroensis'') a species within the genus ''Philemon''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1061547 Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot