Long-billed Myzomela (Myzomela longirostris) | Details

Long-billed Myzomela Myzomela longirostris

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note

Myzomela rosenbergii and M. longirostris (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as M. rosenbergii following Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	C2a(ii)
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,300 km²
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	496 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	1200-20000, 10000-19999 mature individuals	medium	inferred	2022
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	2.63 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The population size of this species has not been directly calculated, although it is reported common to very common on Goodenough (Mayr and Van Deusen 1957, Gregory 2017). It was recently discovered on Ferguson Island, where it is described as uncommon (Gregg et al. 2020), although the latter's expedition did not reach higher elevations where the species may prove more common. Suitable habitat in this species' range is estimated to total no more than 300 km². Other Myzomela species range widely in density, between c.10-120 birds/km² (Bell 1982, Jones et al. 1995). Assuming the majority (60-80%) of suitable habitat is occupied based on reports of the species being common, the population size is inferred to number 1,800-29,000 birds, or 1,200-20,000 mature individuals, with a best estimate of the latter of 10,000-19,999. It is notable that M. rosenbergii (with which this species was formerly considered conspecific) exhibited a potentially highly biased sex ratio of up to 20 males to each female (see Higgins et al. 2020) although this is not accounted for here.

Trend justification: No population trend data are available for this species, but habitat loss in this species' elevational range has been minimal (<1% in the ten years to 2021; Global Forest Watch [2022] based on data and methods in Hansen et al. [2013]); in the absence of other threats the population is suspected to be stable.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Papua New Guinea	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Altitude	900 - 2750 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Agriculture & aquaculture

Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Declines

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Biological resource use

Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]