Banda myzomela

The Banda myzomela (Myzomela boiei) is a bird species in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Indonesia, and found in the Banda, Babar and the Tanimbar Islands. The two subspecies usually recognised are separated by 350 km (220 mi) of open sea.

Currently, the Banda myzomela is split into two subspecies:

• Myzomela boiei boiei (the nominate subspecies), found in the Banda Islands and the Maluku Islands.
• Myzomela boiei annabellae, found in the Tanimbar Islands (which include Yamdena and Selaru Islands, and the Lesser Sunda Islands) and Babar.

In 2025, a study proposed that the two subspecies could be raised to the species level because of notable differences in plumage, size and song. The subspecies M. b. annabellae would be elevated to full species (Tanimbar myzomela M. annabellae), with the population on Babar also split as a new species, Babar myzomela Myzomela babarensis.^[2]

The species has sexual dimorphism. The male has a distinctive red head, neck, upper breast, and mantle, black eye ring, scapulars, and wings, a distinctive pointed beak and brown legs. The female is primarily brown, with an orange part underneath the also-pointed beak. The juveniles are not described. The subspecies M. b. annabellae differs from subspecies M. b. boiei in that the males have a white chest instead of a black one.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is a possible nomadic species that changes its living place in the region and go foraging in twos (probably pairs), and sometimes in flocks. They have their eggs in September and the chicks fledge at April.^[3]