White-throated Honeyeater

SCI Name:  Melithreptus albogularis
Protonym:  Melithreptus albogularis BirdsAustr. pt30 pl.74
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Meliphagidae / Melithreptus
Taxonomy Code:  whthon1
Type Locality:  'Northern and Eastern Australia'' [= Port Essington, Northern Territory; cf. de Schauensee, 1957, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 109, p. 224] .
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1848
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELITHREPTUS
(Meliphagidae; Ϯ White-naped Honeyeater M. lunatus) Gr. μελιθρεπτος melithreptos  honey-fed  < μελι meli, μελιτος melitos  honey; θρεπτα threpta  feeding  < τρεφω trephō  to nourish; "162. HEOROTAIRE, Melithreptus.  Certhia, Linn. Gm. Lath.  Bec arrondi à la base, entier, plus court, ou plus long que la tête, arqué en faucille, acuminé.—Langue ou divisée en 2 filets, ou ciliée à la pointe.—Les première et deuxième remiges les plus longues.  2 sections.   Esp. Heorotaire fuscalbin.—Hoho, Vieill. Ois. dorés.   ...   Melithreptus [μελιθερωτος [sic], melle nutritus]." (Vieillot 1816); "Melithreptus Vieillot, 1816, Analyse, p. 46. Type, by subsequent designation (Gadow, 1884, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 9, p. 204), Certhia lunulata Shaw (error for lunata) = Certhia lunata Vieillot.¹   ...   ¹ This is the first correct type designation. It is usually stated that the type designation is based on monotypy, but Vieillot actually placed two species in his Melithreptus, namely "Heorotaire fuscalbin" (= Certhia lunata Vieillot) and "Hoho" (= Certhia pacifica Gmelin), referring to Vieillot, 1802, Oiseaux Dorés, 2, pls. 61, 63, respectively. G. R. Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, ed. 1, p. 15 cited Melithreptus as a synonym to Acanthorhynchus, but in the second edition (1841, p. 16) stated that he wanted to retain Melithreptus as the name for the "first section" (i.e. Certhia lunata), "to which it seems more proper that it should be applied." This cannot be accepted as a definite type designation." (Salomonsen in Peters 1967, XII, 394).
Var. Melethreptus, Melithreptes, Melitreptus, Melitihreptus.
Synon. Dialis, Eidopsarus, Gymnophrys, Haematops.

albogulare / albogularis
L. albus  white; Mod. L. gularis  throated, of the throat  < L. gula  throat.

SUBSPECIES

White-throated Honeyeater (albogularis)
SCI Name: Melithreptus albogularis albogularis
albogulare / albogularis
L. albus  white; Mod. L. gularis  throated, of the throat  < L. gula  throat.

White-throated Honeyeater (inopinatus)
SCI Name: Melithreptus albogularis inopinatus
inopinata / inopinatum / inopinatus
L. inopinatus unexpected, unlooked for  < in-  not; opinatus  supposed  < opinari  to suppose.
• "Alauda japonica inopinata  ...  Ab Al arvensi typica et Al. arvensi blakistoni ala rotundata rostroque longiore, ab Al. gulgula ejusque subspeciebus coloratione corporis superioris intense rufa, non cinerascenti, ab Al. japonica typica colore laeto rufescenti, haud sordide pallide-cinammomeo signisque medianis nigricantibus angustioribus, ab Al. japonica coelivoci praeterea longitudine ulnae minore differt.  Subspecies finium orientalium Tibeti indigena."(Bianchi 1904) (subsp. Alauda gulgula).
• "According to Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, C. c. africana (his capensis) inhabits "South Africa, south of about 15o  S. lat., Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoro Islands, Cape Verd Islands, Canaries, Madeira, and Azores."  This would be a most astounding distribution and requires much investigation and alteration.  It would mean that the same form inhabited South Africa and the Cape Verd Isles, with no such Quail in an area of 25 degrees of latitude between the two areas, i.e. the Cunene River and the Cape Verd Islands.  But, worse luck, the Quail, inhabiting the Cape Verd Islands is not at all of the group of africana!  ...  I name the Cape Verd Quail:  Coturnix coturnix inopinata subsp. nov." (Hartert 1917) (subsp. Coturnix coturnix).
• "Melithreptus albogularis inopinatus   (White-throated Honeyeater).   Dorsum dull citrine, size large  ... Range: coastal east Australia, north to east foot of Cape York Peninsula, south to Macleay River, N. S. W., and inland to Great Dividing Range.  ...  Nominotypical albogularis, which ranges across northern Australia east to Cape York Peninsula, is brighter citrine dorsally and small" (Schodde 1989) (subsp. Melithreptus albogularis).
• "CHALCURUS INOPINATUS, n. sp.  ...  Of this remarkable new species the Bornean hunters of Mr. John Waterstradt obtained three males and two females in the State of Ulu Pahang, in the centre of the Malay Peninsula.  ...  This is perhaps the most interesting discovery recently made in the Malay Peninsula, only rivalled by that of the Rheinardtius, which occurs in the same country." (Rothschild 1903) (Polyplectron).
• "SERICORNIS MACULATUS.   SPOTTED SCRUB-WREN   ...   That many more subspecies would be named was certain from the published accounts such as Milligan's from the Wongan Hills, West Australia and Alexander from the Perth district.  Further, in the British Museum is a form of this species from Lithgow, New South Wales, suggesting that it occurs inland through that State.  These birds are darker above with less rufous tinge than South Australian birds and thr flanks are noticeably darker.  These may be called:  Sericornis maculatus inopinatus subsp. nov." (Mathews 1922) (syn. Sericornis frontalis).