A cryptic new species of the honeyeater genus Myzomela has been described by an international team of ornithologists from Malaysia, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Babar myzomela (Myzomela babarensis). Image credit: James A. Eaton.
Myzomela is the largest and most geographically widespread genus in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae.
First described by naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827, it now contains over 40 scientifically recognized species.
Myzomela ranges from Indonesia to Australia and into the islands of the Pacific Ocean as far as Micronesia and Samoa.
Members of the genus are colorful, nectar-eating birds. They are an important component of island ecosystems and often make up some of the most abundant canopy birds across eastern Indonesia.
In new research, BirdLife International ornithologist Alex Berryman and colleagues performed a taxonomic revision of three populations of a species called the Banda myzomela (Myzomela boiei).
“We investigated the taxonomy of Myzomela boiei, a colorful, sexually dimorphic honeyeater distributed in two subspecies across three island groups in the Banda Sea, southern Maluku province,” the researchers explained.
“Myzomela boiei boiei occurs on the Banda Islands, while Myzomela boiei annabellae occurs on Babar (and possibly its satellites) and the Tanimbar Islands (recorded from at least Yamdena and Selaru, and probably throughout).”
“With the addition of Damar, the Leti Islands, Kisar and other small islets between them, these islands comprise the ‘Banda Sea Islands,’ a region of comparatively low avian diversity but predictably high endemism.”
The authors examined 28 museum specimens and 21 sound recordings of Myzomela boiei, and also performed 152 playback experiments.
The specimens were provided by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and the Natural History Museum, Tring.
The sound recordings were collated from xeno-canto.org and the Macaulay Library, and by contacting sound-recordists who had visited relevant islands.
“Compared to Myzomela boiei annabellae, Myzomela boiei boiei has a c.10% longer wing, bill and tarsus, more extensive black breast-band, duskier posterior underparts, and a highly divergent song; in playback experiments, Myzomela boiei boiei proved unresponsive to recordings of Myzomela boiei annabellae,” the scientists said.
“However, the songs of Myzomela boiei annabellae on the Tanimbars and Babar are also highly divergent, with populations on both islands unresponsive to the song of the other.”
“Birds on Babar are also slightly larger than Myzomela boiei annabellae on the Tanimbars (with a c.10% longer tail) and may have more scarlet on the back.”
Named Myzomela babarensis (common name is the Babar myzomela), the newly-described species is endemic to Babar, perhaps including the island’s five small satellites.
“Myzomela boiei is currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List,” the researchers said.
“While the proposed division of Myzomela boiei into three range-restricted species might ostensibly suggest that each could be at a heightened risk of extinction, all populations are highly adaptable to habitat degradation and are common within their respective ranges.”
“Myzomela babarensis occurs in all manner of wooded habitats, including ‘degraded agricultural land,’ so its population is probably largely unaffected by ongoing forest degradation on Babar.”
“We suggest that Myzomela boiei, Myzomela annabellae and Myzomela babarensis are best considered Least Concern.”
The team’s paper was published in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club.
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Alex J. Berryman et al. 2025. A taxonomic revision of Banda Myzomela Myzomela boiei (S. Müller 1843), including the description of a new species from Babar Island, Indonesia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 145 (1): 35-48; doi: 10.25226/bboc.v145i1.2025.a4
