Grey-headed Honeyeater

The grey-headed honeyeater (Ptilotula keartlandi) is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia. == Nomenclature, taxonomy and evolutionary history == First described as Ptilotis keartlandi in 1895 by Australian ornithologist Alfred John North, the grey-headed honeyeater is named in honour of the ornithological collector George Arthur Keartland, who collected the type specimen. The taxonomy of the species has been complex since its description. For example, the species was listed in the genus Meliphaga in 1926 by the Royal Australian Ornithological Union Official Checklist of Birds, and then in the genus Lichenostomus by Schodde in 1975. Most recently, the grey-headed honeyeater has been placed in the genus Ptilotula, which contains five other Australian species that all share characteristically plain faces, subtended by a black proximal and yellow or white distal plume across the side of the neck. The generic name Ptilotula derives from Ancient Greek ptilon 'feather' and the diminutive of otis 'ear'. While the species in Ptilotula occupy a wide range of forest, woodland, arid and semi-arid habitats, they share a common ancestor, which inhabited the dry woodlands of central Australia. A fossil leg-bone from an unnamed Pliocene species found in Riversleigh, Queensland, described…