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The red-headed myzomela or red-headed honeyeater (''Myzomela erythrocephala'') is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae, found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Three subspecies are recognised, with the nominate race ''M. erythrocephala erythrocephala'' distributed around the tropical coastline of Australia. At , it is a small honeyeater with a short tail and relatively long down-curved bill. It is sexually dimorphic and the male has a glossy red head and brown upperparts and paler grey-brown underparts while the female has predominantly grey-brown plumage. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It is very active when feeding in the tree canopy, darting from flower to flower and sallying for insects. It calls constantly as it feeds. While little has been documented on the red-headed myzomela’s breeding behaviour, it is recorded as building a small cup-shaped nest in the mangroves and laying two or three oval, white eggs with small red blotches. The red-headed myzomela is widely distributed across the northern coastlines of Australia, though it is not abundant within this range. While the IUCN lists one sub-species as being near threatened, as a whole the widespread range means that its conservation is of least concern. ==Taxonomy== ''Myzomela erythrocephala'' was first described by John Gould in 1840, from specimens located in King Sound, north Western Australia. As well as the nominate race ''M. erythrocephala erythrocephala'', two additional subspecies are recognised: ''M. erythrocephala infuscata'' named by William Alexander Forbes in 1879, and ''M. erythrocephala dammermani'' described by Friederich Wilhelm Sieber in 1928. Some taxonomic authorities recognize ''M. erythrocephala dammermani'' as a separate species, the Sumba myzomela (''Myzomela dammermani''). It is a member of the genus ''Myzomela'' which includes two other Australian species, the scarlet myzomela of eastern Australia, and the dusky myzomela of northern Australia. It belongs to the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. A 2004 genetic study of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of honeyeaters found it to be the next closest relative to a smaller group consisting of the scarlet and cardinal myzomelas, although only five of the thirty members of the genus ''Myzomela'' were analysed. Molecular analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in a large Meliphagoidea superfamily. Because the red-headed honeyeater occurs on many offshore islands and appears to be an effective water-crosser, it has been hypothesised that north-western Australia was the primary centre of origin for the ''Myzomela erythrocephala'' subspecies. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''myzo'' "to suckle" and ''meli'' "honey", and refers to the bird's nectivorous habits, while ''erythrocephala'' is from the Greek ''erythros'' "red" and a combining form of the Greek ''kephale'' "head". Other common names are mangrove red-headed honeyeater, mangrove redhead, and blood bird. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Red-headed myzomela」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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