Tregellasia leucops

General description: 

Nominate race has large white loral spot, black line from gape to eye and eyering, dark slaty ear- coverts; crown dark slaty grey, paler grey on nape and side of neck, forehead and side of crown sooty black, upperparts yellowish- olive; median and lesser upperwing- coverts olive- green, remiges olive- brown with olive- green edges; tail olive- brown, rectrices finely tipped yellowish- white and edged with olivaceous- brown wash; chin, upperthroat and cheek off- white, lower throat to undertail- coverts bright yellow, breast and flanks washed olive; iris dark brown; bill black; legs orange- yellow. Sexes alike. Juvenile has body rusty brown, some feathers with pale shaft streaks, upperwing- coverts tipped chestnut- rufous; immature similar to adult, but with light rufous edges on wing- coverts. Races differ mainly in head pattern and bill colour: mayri like nominate, but lacks black line from gape to eye; nigroorbitalis similar to previous, but with crown blacker and upper throat whiter; heurni has face (lores, forehead and eyering) entirely white; nigriceps similar to previous, but reduced white throat patch; melanogenys also very similar, but chin yellow, nape washed olive; albifacies has forehead black, crown olive- green, large white eyering; albigularis differs from last in blacker crown, more extensive white throat, somewhat paler underparts; wahgiensis has crown olive- green, more extensive white around eye, bill mostly orange; auricularis similar to last but with throat and ear- coverts white.

Conservation status: 

Not Threatened

Diagnostic description: 

Nominate race has large white loral spot, black line from gape to eye and eyering, dark slaty ear- coverts; crown dark slaty grey, paler grey on nape and side of neck, forehead and side of crown sooty black, upperparts yellowish- olive; median and lesser upperwing- coverts olive- green, remiges olive- brown with olive- green edges; tail olive- brown, rectrices finely tipped yellowish- white and edged with olivaceous- brown wash; chin, upperthroat and cheek off- white, lower throat to undertail- coverts bright yellow, breast and flanks washed olive; iris dark brown; bill black; legs orange- yellow. Sexes alike. Juvenile has body rusty brown, some feathers with pale shaft streaks, upperwing- coverts tipped chestnut- rufous; immature similar to adult, but with light rufous edges on wing- coverts. Races differ mainly in head pattern and bill colour: mayri like nominate, but lacks black line from gape to eye; nigroorbitalis similar to previous, but with crown blacker and upper throat whiter; heurni has face (lores, forehead and eyering) entirely white; nigriceps similar to previous, but reduced white throat patch; melanogenys also very similar, but chin yellow, nape washed olive; albifacies has forehead black, crown olive- green, large white eyering; albigularis differs from last in blacker crown, more extensive white throat, somewhat paler underparts; wahgiensis has crown olive- green, more extensive white around eye, bill mostly orange; auricularis similar to last but with throat and ear- coverts white.

Size: 

11.5- 14.5 cm; 15.3- 19.4 g

Phylogeny: 

Taxonomy: Leucophantes leucops Salvadori, 1876, Arfak Mountains, Vogelkop, New Guinea. Precise relationship of present genus with Eopsaltria uncertain; subsumed unto that genus by some earlier authors, but most recent authors maintain two separate genera. Population of Farfak Mts belongs to leucops-mayri-nigroorbitalis group, but precise subspecific identity has not yet been determined; likewise, populations on Yapen I and in Foja Mts belong to heurni-nigriceps-melanogenys group, but subspecific identity yet to be determined; each indeterminate population may represent a new taxon. Ten subspecies provisionally recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)

Distribution: 

Subspecies and Distribution:

    * leucops (leucops Salvadori, 1876) - Vogelkop (Tamrau Mts, Arfak Mts) and Bomberai (Kumawa Mts), in NW New Guinea. * mayri (E. J. O. Hartert, 1930) - Wandammen Mts and adjacent part of Weyland Mts, in W New Guinea. * nigroorbitalis (Rothschild & E. J. O. Hartert, 1913) - WC New Guinea (S slopes of Nassau Mts and Oranje Mts). * heurni (E. J. O. Hartert, 1932) - WC New Guinea (Weyland Mts, mountains on upper R Mamberamo). * nigriceps (Neumann, 1922) - C New Guinea (S slopes of E Oranje Mts, Victor Emanuel Mts). * melanogenys (A. B. Meyer, 1893) - N & NE New Guinea (Cyclops Mts E to R Aicora). * wahgiensis Mayr & Gilliard, 1952 - EC New Guinea (Kubor Range, Wahgi Mts and R Aroa area). * auricularis (Mayr & Rand, 1935) - Wuroi, on R Oriomo, in S New Guinea. * albifacies (Sharpe, 1882) - mountains of SE New Guinea (E from Hydrographers Mts in N, and inland from Port Moresby in S). * albigularis (Rothschild & E. J. O. Hartert, 1907) - N Queensland (NE Cape York Peninsula), in N Australia.
Habitat: 

In New Guinea mainly forests of oak (Quercus) and southern beech (Nothofagus) growing to c. 30 m tall; usually only in hills and lower mountains at 300- 2200 m, mainly 600- 1650 m, also locally in lowlands in S Trans- Fly region. In Australia (race albigularis) inhabits tropical rainforest and vine thickets in lowlands and low mountain ranges.

Trophic strategy: 

Insects and other small arthropods; occasionally seeds. Frquents substage to upper middle stage, foraging in lower storey and undergrowth. Catches food items by pouncing, by gleaning, by making sally- strikes and in aerial sallies in low vegetation.

Reproduction: 

In New Guinea, nest- building and recently completed nest in late Jul, nest with eggs in early Jan, and juveniles seen in late Apr, early Jul, mid- Aug and late Sept, thus most breeding appears to take place in middle of dry season, with some also in wet season; in Australia, breeds Sept/Oct- Jan, or perhaps earlier and with two peaks (Aug- Oct and Jan). Nest built by one member of pair, probably female, a neat cup made mostly of fine plant fibres and bark strips, bound externally with spider web, lined with fine material, outer covering of moss, dried grasses, fibres and tendrills, external diameter 5,7- 7 cm, height 6,4- 7,6 cm, internal diameter 4,4 cm, depth 3,8- 4,4 cm; placed 1- 9 m (usually c. 3,8 m) from ground in upright fork of sapling or lawyer- vine (Calamus). Clutch 2 eggs, light green, with brown and grey speckles concentrated towards larger end, size 19,3- 19,6 x 14,5- 14,7 mm; incubation by one partner, probably female; no information on duration of incubation and nestling periods. Greatest recorded longevity 9 years.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith