The purple-gaped honeyeater (Lichenostomus cratitius) is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.[2]
The purple-gaped honeyeater is a medium-sized (16-19 centimetres) honeyeater which is generally grey-olive above and buffish yellow below.[3] They have a patterned head, with a black eyestripe against a grey background and purple gape above a yellow streak on the throat and pointed yellow ear coverts.[3] Juveniles are similar, but with duller facial patterns, slightly browner plumage, and a yellow gape and gape line.[2] The Kangaroo Island subspecies is considered to be larger and darker than the mainland subspecies.[2]
Similar species include yellow-plumed honeyeater and singing honeyeater.[4]
The song is a clear toweet-toweet-toweet, followed by a high-pitched yep-yep-yep, often performed from a tall branch, including before dawn.[2][4]
They occur in disjunct populations across southern Australia, east from southern Western Australia, with the eastern population largely occurring south of the Murray River, and NSW forming the extreme north-east of its range.[3] Despite its naturally disjunct populations, the purple-gaped honeyeater has very low genetic diversity across its range.[5]
The main habitat type for purple-gaped honeyeater is mallee woodland and shrubland.[4] This includes bull mallee, with patches of green mallee or blue mallee.[4] They also occur in yellow gum woodland with dense thickets of 'totem-poles' or violet honey-myrtle on low-lying flats and gullies in mallee areas.[4] They are occasionally recorded in river red gums bordering waterways,[3] and seasonally in red ironbark woodlands when they are in flower.[4] Purple-gaped honeyeaters can also occasionally be found in gardens.[2]
They are gregarious, usually seen in pairs, or groups of 3-8 birds.[4] Generally considered quiet and unobtrusive, except in spring when they may call often.[4] They are known to regularly drink and bathe, particularly in warmer weather.[4] Purple-gaped honeyeaters associate with yellow-plumed honeyeater and tawny-crowned honeyeater,[4] but can be aggressive towards other honeyeaters,[2] and frequently chase other birds, particularly when feeding.[3]
Purple-gaped honeyeaters feed mainly on nectar and insects,[2] especially from flowering mallee eucalypts,[4] and banksias.[3] They also forage for insects under loose bark on trunks and branches of trees, or catch flying insects on the wing.[4][3] Seeds, pollen and honeydew from scale insects are less frequently consumed.[3]
Purple-gaped honeyeaters build nests as a small cup of bark strips, grass and down, bound with spider web and egg sacs, slung in a horizontal fork or from slender branchlets within dense foliage (usually broombush or eucalypts), normally less than three metres above the ground.[3]
The purple-gaped honeyeater is vulnerable to clearing of mallee, which destroys habitat by removing food plants and nesting sites.[3]
Purple-gaped honeyeaters occur in several protected areas, including:
The purple-gaped honeyeater (Lichenostomus cratitius) is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.
