Malaita monarch


The Malaita monarch is a species of passerine bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the island of Malaita in the Solomon [Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands archipelago]. It was formerly treated as conspecific with the Solomons monarch.

Taxonomy

The Malaita monarch was formally described in 1931 by the American ornithologist Ernst Mayr based on specimens collected on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands archipelago. He considered the specimens to be from a subspecies of the Solomons Monarch and coined the trinomial name Monarcha barbata malaitae. The Malaita monarch is now placed in the genus Symposiachrus and is treated as a separate species from the Solomons monarch based on the differences in plumage and genetics.