The relationship of the Helmeted and Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters

Abstract

The relationship between Meliphaga cassidix and M. melanops subspecies are discussed on the basis of measurements of museum skins and of live individuals. The four separable populations—M. meltoni, M. melanops, M. gippslandica and cassidix—form a cline shaped like a wishbone. Cassidix was probably derived from meltoni-like forms via melanops and gippslandica. Anomalous morphological features in several old skins of cassidix are described and interpreted as genetic peculiarities of the kind found in small populations. M. cassidix should be treated as a race of M. melanops on the grounds that it is at the end of one arm of the wishbone and is linked to melanops by a discrete intermediate form, gippslandica.