''Melidectes'' is a genus of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
in the honeyeater family
Meliphagidae
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 G ...
. All six species are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...
to
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
. The generic name is derived from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
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 ...
''meli'' for honey and ''dektes'' for beggar or receiver.
Description
They are medium-sized honeyeaters, varied in appearance but possessing a long and sometimes stout
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
and bare patch around the eye which is quite large and brightly coloured in some species.
Habitat
The genus is overwhelmingly restricted to montane environments. They occupy mountain forest, forest edge, alpine shrubland and shrubby thickets in grasslands.
In some instances where two species occupy similar ranges, for example the
Belford's melidectes
Belford's melidectes (''Melidectes belfordi''), also known as Belford's honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is found in New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
Its common name ...
and the
yellow-browed melidectes
The yellow-browed melidectes (''Melidectes rufocrissalis''), also known as the yellow-browed honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is found mainly in Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mois ...
in the
Schrader Range
Schrader Range is a mountain range in central Papua New Guinea. It is a part of the Bismarck Range
The Bismarck Range is a mountain range in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. The range is named after the German Chancellor, Ott ...
s, the two species