''Nesoptilotis'' 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 Australia and Tasmania. The genus consists of two 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 two species: The name ''Nesoptilotis'' was first proposed by the Australian ornithologist

Gregory Mathews Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE FRSE FZS FLS (10 September 1876 – 27 March 1949) was an Australian-born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England. Life He was born in Biamble in New South Wales the son of Robert H. M ...

in 1913. 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 ...

''nēsos'' island (i.e. Tasmania), feather and ''-ōtis'' eared.

References

Bird genera {{Meliphagidae-stub