NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Belford's Honeyeater
Melidectes belfordi (De Vis, 1890)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Belford's melidectes (Melidectes belfordi), also known as Belford's honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is found in the New Guinea Highlands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
Its common name and Latin binomial commemorate George Belford, the son of a Samoan chief, who collected natural history specimens for Sir William McGregor, the Lieutenant Governor of British New Guinea in the late nineteenth century.
Wikipedia contributors, Belford's melidectes; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:42:48.886122+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Melidectes belfordi (De Vis, 1890)
- Name authority
- (De Vis, 1890)
- Common name
- Belford's Honeyeater
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Meliphagidae
- Genus
- Melidectes
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyMeliphagidae
- genusMelidectes P. L. Sclater, 1874
- speciesMelidectes belfordi (De Vis, 1890)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Melidectes. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Huon HoneyeaterMelidectes foersteri (Rothschild & E. Hartert, 1911) | MeliphagidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Vogelkop HoneyeaterMelidectes leucostephes (A. B. Meyer, 1874) | MeliphagidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnamon-browed HoneyeaterMelidectes ochromelas (A. B. Meyer, 1874) | MeliphagidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-browed HoneyeaterMelidectes rufocrissalis (Reichenow, 1915) | MeliphagidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ornate HoneyeaterMelidectes torquatus P. L. Sclater, 1874 | MeliphagidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=561054 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3ZF8D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.