Honeyeaters (Meliphagidae)

Black-chinned Honeyeater (Melithreptus gularis) - HBW 13, p. 672

French: Méliphage à menton noir German: Schwarzkinn-Honigschmecker Spanish: Mielero Barbinegro
Other common names: Black-throated Honeyeater; Golden-backed Honeyeater (laetior)

Taxonomy: Haematops gularis Gould, 1837, interior of New South Wales, Australia.
Forms a superspecies with M. validirostris. Race laetior often treated as a separate species, but intergradation with nominate over broad zone in E Australia (Queensland S to NC New South Wales); further research needed. Additional proposed races are normantoniensis (from Normanton, in NW Queensland) and carpentarianus (Homestead, on Campaspe R, in E Queensland), both regarded as intergrades, and parus (Exmouth Gulf, in Western Australia), synonymized with laetior. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • laetior Gould, 1875 - W & N Western Australia E to NW & N Queensland (around S & E Gulf of Carpentaria and S Cape York Peninsula), thence S to NC New South Wales.
  • gularis (Gould, 1837) - N & E Queensland (from S Cape York Peninsula) S to N foothills of Great Divide in N & NC Victoria; SE South Australia (Fleurieu Peninsula and S Mt Lofty Ranges).