Arfak Robin Heteromyias albispecularis Scientific name definitions

Juvenile (First Basic)

In juveniles, much of the head and body are rufous, becoming paler on underparts.

Formative Plumage

An apparent immature had a rufous head, similar to that of the juvenile, with whitish gray back and underparts (1 Noske, R.A., Green, B.S., Phillips, R., Laman, T.G. and Wonggor, Z. (2016). First nest and juvenile plumage descriptions of the Ashy Robin Heteromyias albispecularis of Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Kukila. 19: 53–59. Close ).

Definitive Basic (Adult) Plumage

The adult is white from the throat to the anterior cheeks, with the rest of head a dark ashy gray and the hindneck slightly paler. The upperparts are olivaceous gray. The remiges are fuscous, with the outer webs edged olive brown except on the outer three primaries and innermost secondaries, which have blackish base on each outer web and a white patch on each web. The tertials are olive brown, with the lesser upperwing coverts ashy gray, the greater and primary coverts fuscous black, and the other coverts olive fuscous. The tail is fuscous and washed with brown. The chin is gray and the throat is white. The breast is pale ashy, with a white belly. The flanks and undertail coverts are rusty olive. Sexes are similar.

Very little known about molt in this species, but Noske (1 Noske, R.A., Green, B.S., Phillips, R., Laman, T.G. and Wonggor, Z. (2016). First nest and juvenile plumage descriptions of the Ashy Robin Heteromyias albispecularis of Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Kukila. 19: 53–59. Close ) observed a bird in August that he judged to be immature. The head was rufous, as in Juvenile Plumage, and the body was grayish white, as in adult plumages. The remiges and rectrices were seemingly of one generation and fairly unworn; the greater and median coverts with rufous tips.

Bill and Gape

The bill is olive brown with the tip and ridge of the lower mandible pale (2 Mayr, E., and R. Meyer de Schauensee (1939). Zoological results of the Denison-Crockett expedition to the South Pacific for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1937-1938. Part 4. Birds from northwest New Guinea. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 91:97–144. Close ).

Iris and Facial Skin

In adults, the iris is dark brown (2 Mayr, E., and R. Meyer de Schauensee (1939). Zoological results of the Denison-Crockett expedition to the South Pacific for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1937-1938. Part 4. Birds from northwest New Guinea. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 91:97–144. Close ). An apparent immature had dark gray eyes (1 Noske, R.A., Green, B.S., Phillips, R., Laman, T.G. and Wonggor, Z. (2016). First nest and juvenile plumage descriptions of the Ashy Robin Heteromyias albispecularis of Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Kukila. 19: 53–59. Close ).

Tarsi and Toes

The legs are pink to pale whitish gray (2 Mayr, E., and R. Meyer de Schauensee (1939). Zoological results of the Denison-Crockett expedition to the South Pacific for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1937-1938. Part 4. Birds from northwest New Guinea. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 91:97–144. Close ).

Linear Measurements

15–18 cm.

Wing Length

Female: 86.4 mm (n = 9) (2 Mayr, E., and R. Meyer de Schauensee (1939). Zoological results of the Denison-Crockett expedition to the South Pacific for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1937-1938. Part 4. Birds from northwest New Guinea. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 91:97–144. Close ).

Male: 94.7 mm (n = 5) (2 Mayr, E., and R. Meyer de Schauensee (1939). Zoological results of the Denison-Crockett expedition to the South Pacific for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1937-1938. Part 4. Birds from northwest New Guinea. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 91:97–144. Close ).

Mass

28–37.5 g.

Female: 30.3 g (n = 9) (2 Mayr, E., and R. Meyer de Schauensee (1939). Zoological results of the Denison-Crockett expedition to the South Pacific for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1937-1938. Part 4. Birds from northwest New Guinea. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 91:97–144. Close ).

Male: 36.3 g (n = 5) (2 Mayr, E., and R. Meyer de Schauensee (1939). Zoological results of the Denison-Crockett expedition to the South Pacific for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1937-1938. Part 4. Birds from northwest New Guinea. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 91:97–144. Close ).

Pachycephala albispecularis Salvadori, 1876, Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova 7:931. Type locality reported as the Arfak Mountains (3 Salvadori, T. (1876). Descrizione di cinquantotto nuove specie di uccelli, ed osservazioni intorno ad altre poco note, della Nuova Guinea e di altre Isole Papuane, raccolte dal Dr. Odoardo Beccari e dai cacciatori del Sig. A.A. Bruijn. Ann. Mus. Civ. Storia Nat. Genova (1)7(56–61) (1875): 896–976. Close ).

Until recently, the Arfak Robin was considered conspecific with Black-capped Robin (Heteromyias armiti) (formerly referred to as Ashy Robin). In their assessment of the two taxa, del Hoyo and Collar (4 del Hoyo, J., and N. J. Collar (2016). HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ), using the Tobias et al. (5 Tobias, J. A., N. Seddon, C. N. Spottiswoode, J. D. Pilgrim, L. D. C. Fishpool, and N. J. Collar (2010). Quantitative criteria for species delimitation. Ibis 152(4):724–746. Close ) scoring criteria from which the numbers in brackets are derived, found that Black-capped Robin differed from Arfak Robin in its black crown and ear coverts versus the darkish-gray color in Arfak Robin [2]; the white postocular supercilium versus the mid-gray color in Arfak Robin [3]; and the more prominent white patch on the wing of Black-capped Robin [1] as well as its more olive-green coloration to the upperparts (ns[1]). In addition to the plumage differences, the song of the two also differ, with that of Black-capped Robin being a rapid monotonous series of musical medium- to high-pitched whistles at an uneven rate, whereas the song of Arfak Robin is a rapid burst of notes of identical length and amplitude [2] delivered at a steady rate [2] (6 Pratt, T. K., and B. M. Beehler (2015) Birds of New Guinea. Second edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. Close , 7 Boesman, P. (2016). Notes on the vocalizations of Ashy Robin (Heteromyias albispecularis). HBW Alive Ornithological Note 215. In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ).

Together with Arfak Robin, Black-capped Robin has also been considered conspecific with Gray-headed Robin (Heteromyias cinereifrons) (e.g., 8 Schodde, R., and I. J. Mason (1999). The Directory of Australian Birds: a Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Volume 1. Passerines. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ). Mayr and Cottrell (9 Mayr, E., and G. W. Cottrell, Editors (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World: a Continuation of the Work of James L. Peters. Volume 11. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA. Close ) consider these species to form a superspecies complex.

An undescribed Heteromyias robin in Foja Mountains resembles this species, though Pratt and Beehler (6 Pratt, T. K., and B. M. Beehler (2015) Birds of New Guinea. Second edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. Close ) note it may merit full species status.

In a molecular phylogenetic study, Arfak Robin (Heteromyias albispecularis) was found to be sister to Black-capped Robin (Heteromyias armiti). Together, these two species were found to be sister to Gray-headed Robin (Heteromyias cinereifrons) (10 Christidis, L., Irestedt, M., Rowe, D., Boles, W.E. and Norman, J.A. (2011). Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA phylogenies reveal a complex evolutionary history in the Australasian robins (Passeriformes: Petroicidae). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 61(3): 726–738. Close ). These three species of Heteromyias robins are in turn sister to the genus Poecilodryas (11 Loynes, K., Joseph, L. and Keogh, J.S. (2009). Multi-locus phylogeny clarifies the systematics of the Australo-Papuan robins (Family Petroicidae, Passeriformes). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 53(1): 212–219. Close , 10 Christidis, L., Irestedt, M., Rowe, D., Boles, W.E. and Norman, J.A. (2011). Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA phylogenies reveal a complex evolutionary history in the Australasian robins (Passeriformes: Petroicidae). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 61(3): 726–738. Close ).

Northwestern New Guinea (Tamrau Mountains, Arfak Mountains, and Kumawa Mountains [12 Diamond, J., and K. D. Bishop (2015). Avifaunas of the Kumawa and Fakfak Mountains, Indonesian New Guinea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 135(4):292–336. Close ]); population of Foja Mountains perhaps of this species (13 Beehler, B. M., and T. K. Pratt (2016). Birds of New Guinea: Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ).

Montane forest at 1400–2400 m, mostly above 1700 m; locally as low as 850 m.

Presumably sedentary.

Microhabitat for Foraging

Frequents undergrowth and ground ; much of foraging takes place on ground.

Food Capture and Consumption

Obtains food by gleaning and in sally-strikes to low vegetation.

Major Food Items

Insects, including beetles (Coleoptera), ants (Hymenoptera) and phasmids, larvae, centipedes (Chilopoda) and earthworms.

Vocal Array

Songs

Song a series of short ringing, bell-like notes of stable amplitude and at constant pitch (7 Boesman, P. (2016). Notes on the vocalizations of Ashy Robin (Heteromyias albispecularis). HBW Alive Ornithological Note 215. In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ).

Calls

Call a much shortened version (2–5 notes) of song; alarm “kak-kaktak-kak.” Also 3–4 clear, high-pitched ascending whistles  , “yo-ba-go,” and soft whistled “ee-ya ee-ya-weee;” also “who-he,” first syllable lower than second.

As per Noske (1 Noske, R.A., Green, B.S., Phillips, R., Laman, T.G. and Wonggor, Z. (2016). First nest and juvenile plumage descriptions of the Ashy Robin Heteromyias albispecularis of Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Kukila. 19: 53–59. Close ), eggs were observed in early December and a hatchling was observed in the third week of June.

Site Characteristics

The two nests formally described were placed in top of low tree-fern c. 1 m from ground, one sited c. 1·3 m up in fork of sapling; sometimes numerous twigs or orchid stems hanging below nest (1 Noske, R.A., Green, B.S., Phillips, R., Laman, T.G. and Wonggor, Z. (2016). First nest and juvenile plumage descriptions of the Ashy Robin Heteromyias albispecularis of Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Kukila. 19: 53–59. Close ).

Structure and Composition

Noske documented two nests, which were made from vines and rootlets; the outer surface covered with lichens and moss and the interior lining composed of tendrils and dark rootlets (1 Noske, R.A., Green, B.S., Phillips, R., Laman, T.G. and Wonggor, Z. (2016). First nest and juvenile plumage descriptions of the Ashy Robin Heteromyias albispecularis of Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Kukila. 19: 53–59. Close ).

Color and Surface Texture

The only egg that has been formally documented was a pale buffy yellow with scattered pale brown and gray spots, which became blotches of brownish gray surrounded by pale orange-brown stains at the larger end, (1 Noske, R.A., Green, B.S., Phillips, R., Laman, T.G. and Wonggor, Z. (2016). First nest and juvenile plumage descriptions of the Ashy Robin Heteromyias albispecularis of Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua. Kukila. 19: 53–59. Close ).

Clutch Size

One.

Locally fairly common, and abundant in Kumawa Mountains (14 Diamond, J., and K. D. Bishop (2015). Avifaunas of the Kumawa and Fakfak Mountains, Indonesian New Guinea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 135(4):292–336. Close ), but can be scarce; occasionally absent from apparently suitable areas. Population size not known, but the species is believed not to be at any immediate risk.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern).

Conservation Areas

Occurs in two EBAs: the West Papuan highlands and North Papuan mountains.