#dicaeoidea

First scientific description of elusive bird illuminates plight of Borneo's forests

Scientists with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and collaborators surveying the birdlife of Borneo have discovered a startling surprise: an undescribed species of bird, which has been named the Spectacled Flowerpecker. While scientists and birdwatchers have previously glimpsed the small, gray bird in lowland forests around the island, the Smithsonian team is the first to capture and study it, resulting in its formal scientific description as a new species.

The team's study, reported Oct. 17 in the journal Zootaxa, confirms that the bird belongs to a colorful family of fruit-eating birds known as flowerpeckers, which are found throughout tropical southern Asia, Australia and nearby islands. But according to molecular analysis, the new species is not closely related to any other known flowerpecker.

"This bird is totally unique," said Christopher Milensky, collections manager for the museum's Division of Birds and the leader of the Smithsonian survey that led to the new discovery. "It's unlike anything else, and it is the latest example of the rich biodiversity that can be found in this region."

The tropical island of Borneo in Southeast Asia is home to hundreds of species of birds, including dozens that can be seen nowhere else in the world. But the Spectacled Flowerpecker has drawn special attention since it was first photographed and reported on by a group of birders in 2009. The bird's stout, pot-bellied body and stubby bill immediately suggested it was a flowerpecker, but its distinctive facial markings—the prominent white arcs above and below the eyes that give the bird its spectacled appearance—were unfamiliar. That group, which included University of Leeds ornithologist David Edwards, dubbed the bird with a common name—Spectacled Flowerpecker—and proposed that it might be a species new to science.

For the next 10 years, birds matching the description of the Spectacled Flowerpecker were spotted periodically in lowland forests around the island. But it was not until earlier this year, when Milensky and Jacob Saucier, museum specialist and the team lead on the study formally describing the new species, found the elusive creature in a remote wildlife preserve in Southwestern Borneo, that scientists had an opportunity to study the Spectacled Flowerpecker directly.

Milensky and Saucier were collaborating with Malaysia's Sarawak Forestry Corporation to document the diversity of bird species living in the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary. Their research site was miles from any reported Spectacled Flowerpecker sightings, so discovering one was unexpected. Still, Milensky said, he recognized it immediately. "I was fairly certain that's what it was, and I knew it had not been formally described and documented," he said. "As soon as I saw it, I knew we had a new species of bird to describe."

Milensky and Saucier returned to the museum to examine the bird closely, analyzing its external features and comparing its DNA to that of other flowerpeckers. Their genetic analysis turned up another surprise when the team realized how distinct the new bird was from its family members. "It isn't related to any of the other flowerpeckers all that closely," Saucier said. "It's a whole new species that distinctly stands out."

Colorful bird on remote Indonesian islands should be classified as distinct species, say scientists

A colorful bird found on the Wakatobi islands south of Sulawesi in Indonesia is sufficiently distinct from birds in nearby areas to be classified as a unique species, argue scientists writing in the current issue of the open-access journal PLoS ONE.

After conducting genetic analysis on a type of flowerpecker found across the remote chain of islands, Seán Kelly of Trinity College Dublin and colleagues concluded that the Wakatobi Flowerpecker does not interbreed with the closely related Grey-sided Flowerpecker (Dicaeum celebicum) from mainland Sulawesi. The birds also exhibit size differences, according to the biologists who go on to propose naming the larger bird, the Wakatobi Flowerpecker, Dicaeum kuehni.

"Despite looking similar to the Grey-sided Flowerpecker (Dicaeum celebicum) from mainland Sulawesi, Wakatobi Flowerpeckers are significantly larger and genetically distinct," explained a statement from Trinity College Dublin. "The genetic data from this study revealed that the two flowerpecker species did not mix or interbreed, which in turn suggests that they do not cross the 27 km stretch of ocean between them."

While the discovery of a new bird species is a rare event, the researchers say that the Wakatobi Flowerpecker may be only one of many undescribed birds in the region, which is poorly studied. Given high rates of deforestation and environmental degradation in the region, there is a risk that species could disappear before they are given formal recognition.

“This study also highlights the need for integrative, multi-disciplinary research in the region," said Kelly in a statement. "Without this we will likely fail to recognize and appreciate the true biodiversity of this remarkable region. Furthermore, we run the risk of losing evolutionarily distinct species before we can even discover or enjoy them."