🔥 The Bonin white-eye is endemic to the isolated Bonin…
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🔥 The Bonin white-eye is endemic to the isolated Bonin Islands of Japan. On these islands, which are bereft of several types of birds, this white-eye evolved to occupy their niches: foraging among branches like a tit, on trunks like a woodpecker, and on the ground like a robin.
Among the white-eyes, of which there are over 100 species, the Bonin is unique for the dark triangles around its eyes. It is also unique in that it is the only species in its genus, *Apalopteron*.
Endemic to an archipelago some 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) south of Tokyo, the Bonin white-eye’s evolution is shaped by what its home lacks. Many types of birds aren’t present on the Bonin Islands. As a result, the Bonin white-eye evolved into a generalist forager as it expanded to occupy niches normally split among species from several bird families.
This Bonin bird’s generalist habits resulted in a confused taxonomic history. When it was first described in 1831, it was initially placed into the bulbul https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/14556-Pycnonotidae amily. Then it was moved into the Sylviidae https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/15050-Sylviidaefamily , then back to the bulbuls, briefly considered to maybe be a laughingthrush https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/980192-Leiothrichidae , and then a honeyeater https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/12160-Meliphagidae , before finally — only in 1995 — being labelled a white-eye https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/17438-Zosteropidae .
Once, the Bonin white-eye ranged across all three main island groups of the Bonin Islands, where it variously lived alongside an endemic wood-pigeon, grosbeak, and thrush. Today, these latter endemic species are extinct, and the white-eye can only be found on the Hahajima island group.
Surprisingly, the Bonin white-eye is neither Vulnerable nor Endangered, but a species of Least Concern according to the IUCN’s 2023 evaluation. How long it will remain that way is another question, given that the threats which wiped it out on the other islands — habitat loss, cats, and rats — are also present on Hahajima.
**Learn more about the Bonin white-eye, and other white-eye species,** here! https://www.curiousspecies.com/my-species/bonin-white-eye
#nature
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Among the white-eyes, of which there are over 100 species, the Bonin is unique for the dark triangles around its eyes. It is also unique in that it is the only species in its genus, *Apalopteron*.
Endemic to an archipelago some 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) south of Tokyo, the Bonin white-eye’s evolution is shaped by what its home lacks. Many types of birds aren’t present on the Bonin Islands. As a result, the Bonin white-eye evolved into a generalist forager as it expanded to occupy niches normally split among species from several bird families.
This Bonin bird’s generalist habits resulted in a confused taxonomic history. When it was first described in 1831, it was initially placed into the bulbul https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/14556-Pycnonotidae amily. Then it was moved into the Sylviidae https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/15050-Sylviidaefamily , then back to the bulbuls, briefly considered to maybe be a laughingthrush https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/980192-Leiothrichidae , and then a honeyeater https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/12160-Meliphagidae , before finally — only in 1995 — being labelled a white-eye https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/17438-Zosteropidae .
Once, the Bonin white-eye ranged across all three main island groups of the Bonin Islands, where it variously lived alongside an endemic wood-pigeon, grosbeak, and thrush. Today, these latter endemic species are extinct, and the white-eye can only be found on the Hahajima island group.
Surprisingly, the Bonin white-eye is neither Vulnerable nor Endangered, but a species of Least Concern according to the IUCN’s 2023 evaluation. How long it will remain that way is another question, given that the threats which wiped it out on the other islands — habitat loss, cats, and rats — are also present on Hahajima.
**Learn more about the Bonin white-eye, and other white-eye species,** here! https://www.curiousspecies.com/my-species/bonin-white-eye
#nature
source
f
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