NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
White-fronted Honeyeater
Purnella albifrons (Gould, 1841)
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
The white-fronted honeyeater (Purnella albifrons) is a medium-sized bird species endemic to Australia. Mainly distributed throughout arid and semi-arid landscapes. The white-fronted honeyeater has distinct colourings with a white face, black or brown upper chest with white speckles and yellow panels on their brown wings.
The white-fronted honeyeater was described by the English bird artist John Gould in 1841 and given the binomial name Glyciphila albifrons. The specific epithet combines albus meaning 'white' with frons meaning 'forehead' or 'front'. The white-fronted honeyeater was formerly in the genus Phylidonyris, but is now classified as their own genus, Purnella. The generic name was chosen to honour the oologist and collector, Herbert A. Purnell.
Wikipedia contributors, White-fronted honeyeater; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:01:11.771739+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Purnella albifrons (Gould, 1841)
- Name authority
- (Gould, 1841)
- Common name
- White-fronted Honeyeater
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Meliphagidae
- Genus
- Purnella
- 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
- genusPurnella Mathews, 1914
- speciesPurnella albifrons (Gould, 1841)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Glyciphila albifrons Gould, 1841 Gould, 1841 | synonym |
| Phylidonyris albifrons (Gould, 1841) (Gould, 1841) | synonym |
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=1171818 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:8TQVF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.