Z. conspicillata probably was derived from an ancestral stock which came to Micronesia from the Philippine or Moluccan area, rather than directly from Melanesia. Z. conspicillata seemingly shows the closest resemblance to Z. nigrorum or to some of its relatives in the Australo-Moluccan area. The subspecies at Palau, Z. c. semperi, appears to be the connecting link. Whether the form at Yap represents an independent colonization is not known; such might also be true in the case of the subspecies at Guam and at Saipan and Tinian. If these are considered as separate colonizations, then the populations can be regarded as separate species. Mayr, (in conversation) has pointed out the affinity of the white-eye at Samoa, Z. samoensis, with Z. conspicillata and suggests that Z. samoensis is derived from the Micronesian species.
Zosterops cinerea cinerea (Kittlitz)
Micronesian Dusky White-eye
Drepanis cinerea Kittlitz, Kupfertaf. Naturgesch. Vögel, 1, 1832, p. 6, pl. 8, fig. 2. (Type locality, Ualan = Kusaie.)
Drepanis cinerea Kittlitz, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci., St. Pétersbourg, 2, 1835, p. 4, pl. 5 (Ualan); idem, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 285 (Ualan); Reichenbach, Syn. Avium, 1853, p. 242 (Ualan); Kittlitz, Denkw. Reise, russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 1, 1858, p. 367 (Ualan).
Zosterops cinerea Hartlaub, Archiv f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, p. 131 (Ualan); Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 16 (Oualan); idem, Hand-list Birds, 1, 1869, p. 163 (Caroline = Kusaie); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 96 (Ualan); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, p. 27 (Ualan); idem, Ibis, 1881, pp. 107, 108 (Kuschai); Gadow, Cat. Birds British Mus., 9, 1884, p. 198 (Kushai); Tristram, Cat. Birds, 1889, p. 210 (Kuschai); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 36 (Ualan); Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml., Senckenb., 1891, p. 31 (Ualan); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 208 (Oualan); Finsch, Das Tierreich, no. 15, 1901, p. 45 (Kusaie); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 713 (Kusaie); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, pp. 55, 64 (Kusaie); Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 224 (Kusaie); Stresemann, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17, 1931, p. 230 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 173 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 192 (Kusaie).
Dicaeum cinereum Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168 (Carolinen = Kusaie).
Zosterops cinereus Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 17 (Ualan); idem, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 286, 297, 300 (Kuschai); idem, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 48 (Kuschai).
Zosterops Kittlitzi Finsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 300 (Type locality, Kusaie); Reichenow and Schalow, Journ. f. Ornith., 1881, p. 94 (Kusaie?).