Myzomela obscura, Gould, 1843

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 45

DUSKY MYZOMELA Myzomela obscura #

Range M. o. rubrobrunnea Biak, Supiori.

Taxonomy Treated as a species by Mayr & Meyer de Schauensee (1939) who stated that it was better to ‘list this form as a good species, until the relationship…is better understood.’ Mayr (1941) indicated uncertainty over treating it as a subspecies of obscura , by placing the species name in parentheses. Rand & Gilliard (1967) noted that the Biak population is very distinct, but maintained it as a subspecies of obscura . Del Hoyo & Collar (2016), however, treated this taxon as a species again, based on plumage and morphometrics. Beehler & Pratt (2016) preferred to await the results of molecular analysis before elevating this taxon to species.

Status Biak endemic subspecies. Obtained by four collectors and recorded by c.30% of recent visitors. Ripley found it ‘A shy, nervous species associating in flocks with other nectar eaters or occasionally in groups of two or more in vine-covered forest trees.’ KDB too has found the species scarce and observed it infrequently, occasionally singles feeding quietly c. 6 m up at the forest edge. During the 1982 visit to southern Supiori KDB watched a small group foraging with a mixed-species flock in primary forest on limestone karst at c. 100 m elevation above Kuneff.