''Gavicalis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 endemic to New Guinea and Australia. It contains former members of ''

Lichenostomus ''Lichenostomus'' is a genus of honeyeaters Endemism, endemic to Australia. The genus formerly contained twenty species but it was split after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2011 showed that the genus was polyphyly, polyphyletic. ...

'', and was created after a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis published in 2011 showed that the original genus was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

. The genus contains three species: The name ''Gavicalis'' was first proposed by the Australian ornithologists

Richard Schodde Richard Schodde, Order of Australia, OAM (born 23 September 1936) is an Australian botany, botanist and ornithology, ornithologist. Schodde studied at the University of Adelaide, where he received a Bachelor of Science, BSc (Hons) in 1960 and a ...

and Ian Mason in 1999. The word is an anagram of ''

Caligavis ''Caligavis'' is a genus of honeyeaters endemic to New Guinea and Australia. It includes former members of ''Lichenostomus'', and was created after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2011 showed that the original genus was polyphyleti ...

'' introduced by

Tom Iredale Tom Iredale (24 March 1880 – 12 April 1972) was an English-born ornithologist and malacologist who had a long association with Australia, where he lived for most of his life. He was an Autodidacticism, autodidact who never went to university ...

References

Bird genera {{Meliphagidae-stub