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Thick-billed Spiderhunter Arachnothera crassirostris Scientific name definitions

Robert Cheke and Clive Mann
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2008

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

16–17 cm; 15·5–16·4 g. Male is dark olive-brown above, with large yellow patch around eye bordered olive below, and dark olive stripe through eye; flight-feathers with greenish-yellow edging, and tail with greyish-yellow tips and edging on outer feathers; chin to breast greyish-yellow, pectoral tufts yellowish-orange, rest of underparts greeny yellow, becoming yellow on undertail-coverts and flanks; iris brown or dark brown; bill black, horn at base; legs blackish, soles orange. Female is like male but lacks pectoral tufts. Juvenile is thought to be similar to female, but browner and with paler bill.

Systematics History

Proposed geographical race temmincki, described from Malay Archipelago, considered inadequately differentiated from birds elsewhere in species’ range. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Malay Peninsula (including Singapore), Sumatra and Borneo.

Habitat

Various types of forest, once mangroves, also plantations, secondary growth, gardens, and among bananas (Musa) and wild gingers (Zingiberaceae); sea-level to 1350 m.

Movement

Nothing recorded.

Diet and Foraging

Insects, including butterflies (Lepidoptera) and termite alates (Isoptera); nectar, including that from mistletoes (Loranthaceae), Eugenia and Hibiscus. Forages mostly singly and in all storeys, often low down.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Hard, nasal “chit chit, chissie-chissie”, also “tch-tch”, also “chek-chek-chek” and variants; captured individual held in hand uttered a wheezing rattle.

Breeding

Laying in late Apr, nestlings early Jun and dependent juvenile early May in Malay Peninsula; males with enlarged testes in Jan in N Borneo (Sabah). Nest not certainly described, apparently like a smaller version of that of A. robusta. Clutch 2 eggs, ovate, unglossed white, with small black dots and long fine scrawls in zone around broad end. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Uncommon in Malay Peninsula and Borneo, and rare in Sumatra. Recently rediscovered in Singapore. Occurs in Khao Pra Bang Wildlife Sanctuary, in Thailand, and Taman Negara National Park, in Peninsular Malaysia; rare in Danum Valley Conservation Area, in Borneo.
Distribution of the Thick-billed Spiderhunter - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Thick-billed Spiderhunter

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Cheke, R. and C. Mann (2020). Thick-billed Spiderhunter (Arachnothera crassirostris), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.thbspi1.01
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