Researchers Discover Ten New Bird Taxa in Indonesia

An international team of ornithologists has discovered five new species and five new subspecies of songbirds on little-explored islands off the northeastern coast of Sulawesi.

The Taliabu grasshopper-warbler (Locustella portenta). Image credit: James Eaton / Birdtour Asia.

“From November 2013 through January 2014, we conducted a bird-collecting expedition to three small, little-explored island groups off the northeastern coast of Sulawesi in present-day central Indonesia,” said Dr. Frank Rheindt from the Department of Biological Science at National University of Singapore and his colleagues from Singapore and Indonesia.

“These islands are situated in Indonesia’s Wallacean region, an archipelago at the interface between the Oriental and Australian biogeographical realms named after Alfred R. Wallace, who was the most famous historical collector exploring this area.”

Using genomic and phenotypic techniques, the researchers described five bird species and five subspecies from their 6-week expedition that are new to science.

On Taliabu, the largest member of the Sula Islands, they found three new species: the Taliabu grasshopper-warbler (Locustella portenta), the Taliabu myzomela (Myzomela wahe), the Taliabu leaf-warbler (Phylloscopus emilsalimi); and three new subspecies: the Taliabu snowy-browed flycatcher (Ficedula hyperythra betinabiru), the Taliabu Island thrush (Turdus poliocephalus sukahujan), the Sula mountain leaftoiler (Phyllergates cucullatus sulanus).

On Peleng, the largest island in the Banggai group, they found two new species: the Peleng fantail (Rhipidura habibiei), the Peleng leaf-warbler (Phylloscopus suaramerdu); and one new subspecies: Banggai mountain leaftoiler (Phyllergates cucullatus relictus).

On Batudaka, the larger of the two main constituents of the Togian group, they found one new subspecies: the Togian jungle-flycatcher (Cyornis omissus omississimus).

“Studying the routes and operations of historic collecting expeditions and identifying gaps has been a fruitful approach to pinpoint focal areas in our case,” Dr. Rheindt said.

“The description of so many bird species from such a geographically limited area is a rarity.”

“While most of the avifauna we described seems to tolerate some form of habitat degradation and is readily detected in secondary forest and edge, some species or subspecies are doubtless threatened by the immense levels of habitat loss on these islands,” he said.

“As such, urgent, long-lasting conservation action is needed for some of the new forms to survive longer than a couple of decades beyond their date of description.”

These new bird taxa are described in a paper published in the journal Science.

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Frank E. Rheindt et al. 2020. A lost world in Wallacea: Description of a montane archipelagic avifauna. Science 367 (6474): 167-170; doi: 10.1126/science.aax2146