Myzomela cardinalis kurodai Momiyama
Cardinal Honey-eater
Myzomela rubratra kurodai Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 17. (Type locality, Yap.)
Myzomela rubratra Hartlaub and Finsch (part), Proc. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 94 (Uap); Gräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, p. 122 (Yap); Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 4 (Yap); Forbes (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1879, p. 271 (Yap); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und. Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 31 (Uap); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 202 (Yap); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Yap); Kuroda, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 27, 1915, pp. 331, 332 (Yap).
Myzomela rubrata Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Yap).
Myzomela rubrata kurodai Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 74 (Yap); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 743 (Yap); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), rev., 1932, p. 172 (Yap); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d ed., 1942, p. 190 (Yap).
Myzomela cardinalis kurodai Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 299 (Yap).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Yap.
Characters.—Adult male: According to Momiyama (1922:17), M. c. kurodai is "Similar to M. r. saffordi Wetmore from Southern Marianne islands, but the tarsus is decidedly shorter, not exceeding 21 mm. (more than 21 mm. in M. r. saffordi), and the colour of plumage is not so much tinged with vermillion. It differs from M. r. rubratra, M. r. dichromata, and M. r. wetmorei by the body measuring much shorter, and by the scarlet colour of plumage being less pronounced. The length of bill in M. r. wetmorei and kurodai is nearly the same."
Adult female: According to Momiyama (1922:17), "Upper-parts of body dark olivaceous brown; under-parts, including chin, throat and fore neck like upper-parts, but somewhat paler; breast and abdomen yellowish ashy-white; head, lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, chin, throat as well as lower breast tinged with scarlet (the red colour more distinct on lower back but less so on lower breast); pale olive margin to the outer web of flight-feathers."
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 48].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 2 males, from Caroline Islands, AMNH—Yap (Sept.).
Remarks.—This subspecies is tentatively recognized as distinct from M. c. kobayashii of Palau. No female has been examined, and the two males seen and the description by Momiyama indicate that the population at Yap closely resembles the one at Palau. The Hand-list of Japanese Birds (Hachisuka et al., 1932:172) places the birds from Yap and Palau in the same subspecies.