#dicaeum

Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma), HE SCREMMMM!!!, family Dicaeidae, order Passeriformes, Negros island, Philippines

[2809/11080] Crimson-crowned flowerpecker - Dicaeum nehrkorni

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Passeri Superfamily: Passeroidea Family: Dicaeidae (flowerpeckers)

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."

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum), male, family Dicaeidae, order Passeriformes, Singapore

Bornean or Black-sided Flowerpecker (Dicaeum monticolum), family Dicaeidae, order Passeriformes, Sabah, Borneo

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum), male, EAT A TASTY NECTAR!!!, family Dicaeidae, order Passeriformes, Malaysia