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Taxonomic note

Microptilotis vicina (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) was previously listed as Meliphaga vicina.

 

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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Least Concern
2016	Data Deficient
2012	Data Deficient
2008	Data Deficient
2004	Data Deficient
2000	Data Deficient
1996	Data Deficient
1994	Data Deficient
1988	Threatened

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,500 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	500 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	33000-57000 mature individuals	good	estimated	2016
Population trend	stable	-	inferred	-
Generation length	2.98 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1-2	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	87-100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The species has been described as abundant in forest and edge from sea level to 800 m (Beehler and Pratt 2016, Goulding et al. 2019a). The population size has been estimated from density estimates and tree cover data to be between 53,000 – 85,000 individuals across the two islands in 2016 (Goulding et al. 2019a). However, lower density estimates on the larger Tagula Island support a population closer to 50,000 (Goulding et al. 2019a). The population size is therefore estimated at 50,000 - 85,000 individuals, roughly equating to 33,333-56,667 mature individuals, here rounded to 33,000- 57,000 mature individuals.

A tracking study found population densities of 1.1 individuals/ha on Junet Island, but densities of 0.64 individuals/ha were observed on parts of Tagula Island (Goulding et al. 2019a).

The population estimates for each island are 3,500 - 7,000 individuals on Junet and 49,800 - 77,800 individuals on Tagula (Goulding et al. 2019). The species is highly mobile and has been observed crossing gaps in forest, so it could potentially cross narrow distances between close islands (Goulding et al. 2019a).

Trend justification: Data on tree cover loss indicates a loss of 2% of tree cover with at least 10% canopy cover within the species's range from 2009-2019 (Global Forest Watch 2020). The species is tolerant of habitat disturbance and is found in forest edge habitat (Goulding et al. 2019a). The population size is therefore inferred to be stable.

In 2019, there were plans for commercial logging between Reuwo on the south coast and Rambuso Creek on the north coast (W. Goulding in litt. 2020). Should it go ahead, this could impact up to approximately 10% of the species's range, but the species is tolerant of disturbance (Goulding et al. 2019a) and so it is unlikely that the species would be eliminated from the area of logging.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 800 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Shifting agriculture	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Climate change & severe weather	Droughts	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success
Climate change & severe weather	Storms & flooding	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Acridotheres tristis	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Competition, Other
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Boiga irregularis	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Whole (>90%)		No decline		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Whole (>90%)		No decline		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Passer domesticus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Competition, Other
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Sturnus vulgaris	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Competition, Other
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		No/Negligible Impact: 2
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Tagula Honeyeater Microptilotis vicina. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/tagula-honeyeater-microptilotis-vicina on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.