Vogelkop Melidectes

SCI Name:  Melidectes leucostephes
Protonym:  Melirrhophetes leucostephes Sitz.K.Akad.Wiss.Wien 70(1874) p.110
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Meliphagidae / Melidectes
Taxonomy Code:  vogmel1
Type Locality:  Hatam, Arfak Mountains, Vogelkop Peninsula, northwestern New Guinea.
Author:  Meyer, AB
Publish Year:  1874
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELIDECTES
(Meliphagidae; Ϯ Ornate Honeyeater M. torquatus) Gr. μελι meli,  μελιτος melitos  honey; δηκτης dēktēs  biter  < δηκω dēkō  to bite; "11. MELIDECTES TORQUATUS, gen. et sp. n.  (Pl. LV.)  Melidectes gen. nov.† ex familia Meliphagidarum: rostro elongato, caput æquante, tenuiusculo, parum arcuato; naribus linearibus, in sulco longitudinali positis: spatio altero postoculari lato et altero postrictali angusto omnino nudis; cauda longa, paulum rotundata; tarsis modicis: alis acutis, modice elongatis.   ...  MELIDECTES TORQUATUS, sp. n.  ...  This is a conspicuous new Meliphagine form, not very far from Ptilotis, but distinguishable by the bareness of the sides of the face and bare stripe behind the rictus. These are separated by a scanty line of feathers extending beneath the eye.   ...   †  Mελι, mel, et δηκτης, mordicator." (P. Sclater 1874); "Melidectes Sclater, 1873 [= 1874], Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 694. Type, by monotypy, Melidectes torquatus Sclater." (Salomonsen in Peters 1967, XII, 415).
Synon. Melionyx, Melirrhophetes.

leucostephes
Gr. λευκοστεφης leukostephēs white-wreathed < λευκος leukos white; στεφος stephos wreath.