| Spotted berrypecker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male (upper left) and female (bottom) by W. Hart | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Melanocharitidae |
| Genus: | Melanocharis |
| Species: | M. piperata |
| Binomial name | |
| Melanocharis piperata (De Vis, 1898) | |
| Synonyms | |
Rhamphocharis piperata | |
The spotted berrypecker (Melanocharis piperata) is a species of bird in the family Melanocharitidae. It is found in New Guinea. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the thick-billed berrypecker (Rhamphocharis crassirostris), but was split as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021. [2] The name "spotted berrypecker" references the spotted plumage that the female bird has.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
A molecular genetic study published in 2021 found that the spotted berrypecker, then placed in the genus Rhamphocharis, was embedded in the genus Melanocharis . [3] Base on this result, the spotted berrypecker and the thick-billed berrypecker were moved from Rhamphocharis to Melanocharis. [4]