Vogelkop Honeyeater
Other common names: Vogelkop/Arfak/White-fronted Melidectes, Vogelkop Wattled/White-capped/White-fronted(!) Honeyeater
Taxonomy: Melirrhophetes leucostephes A. B. Meyer, 1874, Hatam, Arfak Mountains, Vogelkop Peninsula, north-west New Guinea.
Has forehead white, rest of the head dusky black or sooty brown, with big diffuse whitish scallion on nape, hind neck, side of neck and throat. The lower part of nape on the neck has red streaking. Around the eye, there is large bluish area of bare skin, and fine white streaking around eye. Upper body, belly and neck is dark drown or sooty brown with white spots. Wings are dark drown with yellowish-olive edges. Undertail dark cinnamon.
~28 cm
Study of relationships within genus needed. Forms a superspecies with M. belfordi, M. rufocrissalis and M. foersteri; all four, along with M. ochromelas and M. torquatus, comprise a group of relatively large species that differ from others in genus in size, morphology, plumage and voice. Sometimes treated as conspecific with M. belfordi. Monotypic.
Mountains of Vogelkop (Tamrau Mts, Arfak Mts) and Bomberai Peninsula (Fakfak Mts, Kumawa Mts), in NW New Guinea.