Flowerpeckers (Dicaeidae)

Buzzing Flowerpecker (Dicaeum hypoleucum) - HBW 13, p. 379

French: Dicée à ventre blanc German: Weißbauch-Mistelfresser Spanish: Picaflores Zumbador
Other common names: White-bellied Flowerpecker

Taxonomy: Dicaeum hypoleucum Sharpe, 1876, Basilan, Philippines.
Tongue morphology similar to that of D. melanoxanthum and D. australe. Variation between some races quite well marked, and this species could perhaps be split into two or even three species. Proposed race lagunae, from Pangil (Laguna Province), in SC Luzon, insufficiently distinct from obscurum to warrant recognition. Five subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

obscurum Ogilvie-Grant, 1894 - NW, C & S Luzon and Catanduanes, in N Philippines.
cagayanense Rand & Rabor, 1967 - Sierra Madre Mts (including Mt Cagua), in NE Luzon.
pontifex Mayr, 1946 - Samar, Biliran, Leyte, Panaon, Bohol, Dinagat, and Mindanao (except Zamboanga Peninsula), in EC & S Philippines.

See all 5 subspecies

obscurum Ogilvie-Grant, 1894 - NW, C & S Luzon and Catanduanes, in N Philippines.
cagayanense Rand & Rabor, 1967 - Sierra Madre Mts (including Mt Cagua), in NE Luzon.
pontifex Mayr, 1946 - Samar, Biliran, Leyte, Panaon, Bohol, Dinagat, and Mindanao (except Zamboanga Peninsula), in EC & S Philippines.
mindanense Tweeddale, 1877 - Zamboanga Peninsula, in W Mindanao.
hypoleucum Sharpe, 1876 - Sulu Archipelago (Malamaui, Basilan, Jolo, Siasi, Tawi-Tawi, Bongao, Sanga Sanga and Manuk Manka).