A NEW SPECIES OF SMOKY HONEYEATER (MELIPHAGIDAE: MELIPOTES) FROM WESTERN NEW GUINEA

Auk, The, Jul 2007 by Beehler, Bruce M, Prawiradilaga, Dewi M, de Fretes, Yance, Kemp, Neville

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Description of holotype. - Bill and legs black. Iris dark brown. Plumage coloration (following color terminology of Smithe 1975): crown, darker than jet black (89); mantle between jet black (89) and blackish neutral gray (82); chin and upper throat between blackish neutral gray (82) and dark neutral gray (83), underpays darker than plumbeus (78), with light neutral gray (85) edging to contour feathers on breast; scapulars and primaries paler than dusky brown (19); undertail coverts darker than smoke gray (45).

Measurements of holotype. - Wing chord (unflattened): 124 mm; tarsus: 35 mm; tail: 102 mm; bill from base of skull: 25 mm; bill from feathers: 19 mm; weight: 52.5 g.

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Specimens examined. - Vive apparently adult individuals (the holotype and four paratypes) were mist netted at the Bog Camp between 28 November and 4 December 2005. Two were prepared as study skins (MZB 30628 and 30629), and three as whole anatomical specimens in alcohol (MZB 30630, 30631, and 30632). All specimens are held at the MZB in Cibinong, Indonesia. Tissue samples of all were preserved in 70% ETOH. Comparative study skins of the species ater (n = 3), gymnops (n = 11), and fumigatus (n = 29) were examined from the collections of the National Collection, Cibinong (Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense), and the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The measurements of wing, tail, tarsus, and bill for M. carolae did not differ substantially from those for its putative sister form, M. fumigatus (Table 1).

Distribution, ecology, and behavior. - Recorded only above 1,150 m elevation in the Foja Mountains of western (Indonesian) New Guinea, M. carolae was found by the field team to be common in forest interior and forest-edge. It was seen repeatedly foraging unwarily in the middle and upper levels of the vegetation, especially at plants producing small fruits. The Foja Mountains support a large expanse of continuous, closed, humid tropical submontane forest. From the forest physiognomy, we estimate that this mountain range receives what appears to be a moderate amount of rainfall annually (about 3-4 m per annum, with a dry season that apparently peaks in August, according to local informants). The type locality is a sphagnum bog -500 m in diameter surrounded by mossy forest of moderate stature (20-25 m) dominated by gymnosperms (e.g., Dacrydium, Dacrycarpus) and montane angiosperm taxa (e.g., Nothofagus, Lithocarpus). The montane vegetation of this isolated mountain massif exhibits the Massenerhebung Effect - thus, the forest at 1,650 m in the Foja Mountains is similar to a forest of higher elevation in New Guinea's central cordillera.

Melipotes carolae exhibited behavior typical of the genus Melipotes (Beehler et al. 1986, Coates 1990), with one exception: the individuals encountered on 15 occasions during the field trip were silent. We never heard or recorded this species making a sound. We encountered no evidence of nesting or other reproductive behavior during the field period (late November-early December). The two dissected individuals had nonbreeding gonads.

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A NEW SPECIES OF SMOKY HONEYEATER (MELIPHAGIDAE: MELIPOTES) FROM WESTERN NEW GUINEA

Auk, The, Jul 2007 by Beehler, Bruce M, Prawiradilaga, Dewi M, de Fretes, Yance, Kemp, Neville

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