Berrypeckers and Longbills (Melanocharitidae)

Obscure Berrypecker (Melanocharis arfakiana) - HBW 13, p. 335

French: Piquebaie obscur German: Arfakbeerenpicker Spanish: Picabayas Oscuro
Other common names: Arfak Berrypecker

Taxonomy: Dicaeum arfakianum Finsch, 1900, Arfak Mountains, New Guinea.
Perhaps forms a species pair with M. nigra. Birds from Boana, in S Huon Peninsula, exhibit better-marked pale eyering than those in rest of range, but taxonomic significance, if any, of this is uncertain. Monotypic.

Distribution: E half of New Guinea: Tabubil area (in Western Province), Keki (in Adelbert Mts), Boana (near Lae), and near Port Moresby at Efogi (on the Kokoda Trail) and Varirata. Also Arfak Mts (NW New Guinea), but no records subsequent to its original discovery there.