The Mussau flycatcher (''Myiagra hebetior'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Monarchidae The monarchs or monarch flycatchers (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and Grallina, magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivore, insectivorous songbirds with l ...

. It is

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 ...

Mussau Island Mussau Island is the largest island of St Matthias Islands, Papua New Guinea,Müller, Chris J. "Butterflies of Mussau Island (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera)." ''A Rapid Biodiversity Survey of Papua New Guinea’s Manus and Mussau Islands'' (2015): 21 ...

in the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Mussau flycatcher was originally described in the genus ''

Monarcha ''Monarcha'' is a genus of bird in the family Monarchidae. They are found in Australia and Melanesia. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Monarcha'' was introduced by naturalists Nicholas Aylward Vigors, Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in ...

''. Alternate names include dull flycatcher, dull monarch, Hartert's flycatcher, island flycatcher, lesser shining flycatcher, and little shining flycatcher. The velvet flycatcher (''M. eichorni''), which is found on New Hanover, New Ireland &

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

, and the Dyaul flycatcher (''M. cervinicolor''), which is endemic to

Dyaul Island Dyaul Island (also Djaul) is an island in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. Its area is . The inhabitants live mainly in seven villages, and frequently visit Kavieng Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Irel ...

, were both formerly considered subspecies, but were reclassified as distinct species by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

in 2021. The three species were formerly grouped together as the velvet flycatcher under the scientific name ''M. hebetior''.

Threats

The Mussau flycatcher is threatened by habitat loss due to logging and is considered Vulnerable by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

References

Mussau flycatcher Birds of New Ireland Province Mussau flycatcher Taxa named by Ernst Hartert Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic birds of Papua New Guinea {{Monarchidae-stub