''Lichenostomus'' 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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Australia. The genus formerly contained twenty species but it was split 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 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 ...

. Former members were moved to the six new genera: '' Nesoptilotis'', '' Bolemoreus'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Stomiopera ''Stomiopera'' is a genus of honeyeaters endemic to Australia. It contains former members of ''Lichenostomus'', and was created after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2011 showed that the original genus was polyphyletic. The genus ...

'', ''

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

'' and ''

Ptilotula ''Ptilotula '' is a genus of honeyeater consisting of species occurring in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The genus consists of six former members of ''Lichenostomus'', and was created after a molecular analysis showed the genus was polyphyleti ...

''. The genus contains two species: The name ''Lichenostomus'' was introduced by the German ornithologist

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...

in 1851. The word is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''leikhēn'' meaning lichen or callous and ''stoma'' meaning mouth.

Feeding

Both species feed primarily on nectar but also glean insects from foliage and bark and make aerial sallies for invertebrates. The

purple-gaped honeyeater The purple-gaped honeyeater (''Lichenostomus cratitius'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.Menkhorst, P., ...

can forage in small groups of up to 30 birds.

References

Bird genera {{Meliphagidae-stub