• Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Meliphagida: Meliphagoidea
• Distribution: Philippines, Wallacea and Bali, Australia and New Guinea, New Zealand
• Number of extant genera: 51
• Number of extant and recently extinct species: 195

Traditional genus-level classification of extant and recently extinct (red letters) Meliphagidae following the AviList checklist v2025. (link) The number of subspecies is given in parentheses. 

References

Andersen MJ, Naikatini A, and Moyle RG (2014), A molecular phylogeny of Pacific honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) reveals extensive paraphyly and an isolated Polynesian radiation, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 71, 308-315. (abstract) 

Andersen MJ, McCullough JM, Friedman NR, Peterson AT, Moyle RG, Joseph L, and Nyári ÁS  (2019), Ultraconserved elements  resolve genus-level relationships in a major Australasian bird radiation (Aves: Meliphagidae), Emu 119, 218-232. (abstract)

Barker FK, Barrowclough GF, and Groth JG (2002), A phylogenetic hypothesis for passerine birds: taxonomic and biogeographic implications of an analysis of nuclear DNA sequence data, Proc. R. Soc. B 269, 295-308 (abstract)

Barker FK, Cibois A, Schikler P, Feinstein J, and Cracraft J (2004), Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101, 11040-45. (pdf) 

Berryman AJ, Spencer AJ, Sharma P, and Eaton JA (2025), A taxonomic revision of Banda Myzomela Myzomela boiei (S. Müller 1843), including the description of a new species from Babar Island, Indonesia, Bull. Br. Ornithol. Club 145, 35-48. (free pdf)

Christidis L, and Norman JA (2010), Evolution of the Australasian songbird fauna, Emu 110, 21-31. (abstract) 

Driskell AC, and Christidis L (2004), Phylogeny and evolution of the Australo-Papuan honeyeaters (Passeriformes, Meliphagidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 31, 943-960. (abstract)

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Gardner JL, Trueman JWH, Ebert D, Joseph L, and Magrath RD (2010), Phylogeny and evolution of the Meliphagoidea, the largest radiation of Australasian songbirds, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 55, 1087-1102. (abstract)

Hay EM, McGee MD, and Chown SL (2022), Geographic range size and speciation in honeyeaters, BMC Ecol. Evol. 22, e:86. (free pdf)

Joseph L, Toon A, Nyári ÁS, Longmore NW, Rowe KMC, Haryoko T, Trueman J, and Gardner JL (2014), A new synthesis of the molecular systematics and biogeography of honeyeaters (Passeriformes: Meliphagidae) highlights biogeographical and ecological complexity of a spectacular avian radiation, Zool. Scr. 43, 235-248. (abstract)

Mapel XM, Gyllenhaal EF, Modak TH, DeCicco LH, Naikatini A, Utzurrum RB, Seamon JO, Cibois A, Thibault JC, Sorenson MD, Moyle RG, Barrow LN, and Andersen MJ (2021), Inter- and intra-archipelago dynamics of population structure and gene flow in a Polynesian bird, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 156, e:107034. (abstract) [focal taxon: genus Foulehaio]

Marki PZ, Jønsson KA, Irestedt M, Nguyen JMT, Rahbek C, and Fjeldså J (2017), Supermatrix phylogeny and biogeography of the Australasian Meliphagides radiation (Aves: Passeriformes), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 107, 516-529. (abstract)

McCullough JM, Joseph L, Moyle RG, and Andersen MJ (2019), Ultraconserved elements put the final nail in the coffin of traditional use of the genus Meliphaga (Aves: Meliphagidae), Zool. Scr. 48, 411-418. (abstract)

Miller ET, and Wagner SK (2014), The vocalisations and species status of the White-lined and Kimberley Honeyeaters, Emu 114, 116-120 (abstract)

Müller IA, Thörn F, Rajan S, Olsen RA, Ericson PGP, Peona V, Smith BT, Maiah G, Koane B, Iova B, Blom MPK, Irestedt M, and KA Jønsson (2025), Ephemeral speciation in a New Guinean honeyeater complex (Aves: Melidectes), Mol. Ecol. 34, e:17760. (pdf)

Nyàri ÁS, and Joseph L (2011), Systematic dismantlement of Lichenostomus improves the basis for understanding relationships within the honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) and the historical development of Australo‐Papuan bird communities, Emu 111, 202-211. (abstract)

Oliveros CH, Field DJ, Ksepka DT, Barker KF, Aleixo A, Andersen MJ, Alström P, Benz BW, Braun EL, Braun MJ, Bravo GA, Brumfield RT, Chesser RT, Claramunt S, Cracraft J, Cuervo AM, Derryberry EP, Glenn TC, Harvey MG, Hosner PA, Joseph L, Kimball RT, Mack AL, Miskelly CM, Peterson AT, Robbins MB, Sheldon FH, Silveira LF, Smith BT, White ND, Moyle RG, and Faircloth BC (2019), Earth history and the passerine superradiation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116, 7915-25. (pdf)

Rheindt FE, Prawiradilaga DM, Ashari H, Suparno, Gwee CY, Lee GWX, Wu MY, and Ng NSR (2020), A lost world in Wallacea: description of a montane archipelagic avifauna, Science 367, 167-170. (pdf) [note: paper includes description of Myzomela wahe]

Sarker S, Athukorala A, Talukder S, and Phalen DN (2020), Phylogenetic analyses to uncover the evolutionary relationship of a newly sequenced mitochondrial genome from an Eastern spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris), Mitochondrial DNA B 5, 3234-38. (pdf)

Yabaki M, Winkworth RC, McLenachan PA, Aalbersberg W, Winder L, Trewick SA, and Lockhart PJ (2016), Placing the Fijian Honeyeaters within the meliphagid radiation: implications for origins and conservation, Pac. Conserv. Biol. 22, 262-271. (abstract)

Stiller J, Feng S, Chowdhury AA, Rivas-González I, Duchêne DA, Fang Q, Deng Y, Kozlov A, Stamatakis A, Claramunt S, Nguyen JMT, Ho SYW, Faircloth BC, Haag J, Houde P, Cracraft J, Balaban M, Mai U, Chen G, Gao R, Zhou C, Xie Y, Huang Z, Cao Z, Yan Z, Ogilvie HA, Nakhleh L, Lindow B, Morel B, Fjeldså J, Hosner PA, da Fonseca RR, Petersen B, Tobias JA, Székely T, Kennedy JD, Reeve AH, Liker A, Stervander M, Antunes A, Tietze DT, Bertelsen M, Lei F, Rahbek C, Graves GR, Schierup MH, Warnow T, Braun EL, Gilbert MTP, Jarvis ED, Mirarab S, and Zhang G (2024), Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes, Nature 629, 851-860. (pdf)

Toon A, Hughes JM, and Joseph L (2010), Multilocus analysis of honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) highlights spatio-temporal heterogeneity in the influence of biogeographic barriers in the Australian monsoonal zone, Mol. Ecol. 14, 2980-94. (abstract)

Vinciguerra NT, Benz BW, McCullough JM, Moyle RG, and Andersen MJ (2026), Phylogenomics and biogeography of honeyeaters in the genus Myzomela (Meliphagidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. , e:108644. (abstract) [note: found four polytypic species complexes to be non‑monophyletic and proposed a taxonomic revision in which many subspecies are elevated to full species, restoring monophyly; in this way, about 20 new species were recognised]