Satin Berrypecker Melanocharis citreola Scientific name definitions

The recently described Satin Berrypecker is, on current knowledge, endemic to the Bird’s Neck Peninsula of western New Guinea, and is apparently the only species of bird to be so restricted; considering how poorly known the island’s avifauna remains, it is arguably surprising that this Melanocharis is only the second species to be described in the last 80 years from the New Guinea region. Melanocharis citreola is known from mid-montane forest on just two mountain ranges, the Fakfak and Kumawa Mts, where it has been encountered on little more than a handful of occasions to date, initially in 1992, at which time the birds were provisionally identified as individuals of the superficially similar Mid-mountain Berrypecker (Melanocharis longicauda). Unsurprisingly, given the very few observations of this species until now, virtually nothing is known concerning its natural history, and even this berrypecker’s female plumage is undescribed. Within its limited distribution, the male Satin Berrypecker should be readily identified by the stout black bill and iridescent blue-black upperparts (including the wings and tail) contrasting with the paler, satin-white underparts.