A Colourful New Species of Myzomela Honeyeater From Rote Island in Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

The avifauna of Rote Island in the Lesser Sundas is not well studied and generally considered to be similar to that of adjacent Timor Island. However, some cases of bird endemism have recently been documented on this island. A population of Myzomela honeyeater is one such example. First observed in October 1990, it has been subsumed with Myzomela dammermani from Sumba Island given its superficially similar appearance. Based on extensive morphological inspection and bioacoustic analysis, we here describe this population as a new taxon to science. Apart from previously overlooked plumage distinctions, the new taxon bioacoustically differs from M. dammermani in the presence or absence of several unique call types and considerable differences across two parameters in shared call types. Considering the importance of bioacoustics in avian species delimitation, we propose that the new Rote Myzomela be considered a distinct species. Given continued habitat conversion across its small range, we propose the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) threat status Vulnerable for the species.

A striking new species of leaf warbler from the Lesser Sundas as uncovered through morphology and genomics

“…Avian endemism on Rote Island has long been underestimated, and the island hosts many species-level endemics 8 , 13 , 48 , 49 as well as an additional number of threatened, range-restricted species (e.g. Yellow-crested Cockatoo Cacatua sulphurea , Timor Green Pigeon Treron psittaceus , Jonquil Parrot Aprosmictus jonquillaceus ) 13 .…”

The interplay of colour and bioacoustic traits in the differentiation of a Southeast Asian songbird complex

“…refers to the t-score at the 95th percentile of the distribution for n − 1 degrees of freedom. The Isler criterion was initially devised for New World antbirds (Isler et al, 1998), but has since been applied across various songbirds (Cros & Rheindt, 2017;Gwee et al, 2019a;Prawiradilaga et al, 2018) and nonoscines (Gwee et al, 2017(Gwee et al, , 2019bSangster & Rozendaal, 2004).…”

“…Bioacoustic characters are useful to consider in systematic research across various animal groups, including birds, insects, mammals and amphibians (Alström & Ranft, 2003; Baptista & Kroodsma, 2001; Desutter‐Grandcolas & Robillard, 2003; López‐Baucells et al., 2018b; Philippe et al., 2017; Tishechkin & Vedenina, 2016). Even in the most well‐known animal class on Earth, namely birds, bioacoustic comparisons have helped uncover high levels of cryptic diversity, sometimes with valuable implications for conservation (Ford & Parker, 1973; Ford, 1983; Baptista & Kroodsma, 2001; Gwee et al., 2017, 2019a; Rheindt et al., 2008), and have been one of the driving forces behind a minor renaissance in genuine new species discovery in the 21st century (Alström et al., 2010; Krabbe et al., 2020; Prawiradilaga et al., 2018; Rheindt et al., 2020). At the same time, bioacoustic species delimitation is not a panacea as vocal divergence may be subtle or ambiguous in genetically differentiated cryptic species (Dufresnes et al., 2018; Garg et al., 2016; Harris et al., 2014).…”

The interplay of color and bioacoustic traits in the speciation of a Southeast Asian songbird complex

“…where t i refers to the t-score at the 95 th percentile of the distribution for n -1 degrees of freedom. The Isler criterion was initially devised for New World antbirds (Isler et al, 1998), but has been applied across various songbirds (Cros & Rheindt, 2017;Prawiradilaga et al, 2018;Gwee et al, 2019b) and non-oscines (Sangster & Rozendaal, 2004;Gwee et al, 2017;Gwee et al, 2019a).…”