Heleia

Heleia is a genus of birds in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. One species, the Timor heleia is restricted to the island of Timor.^[1] The pygmy heleia is endemic to the island of Borneo.^[2] The thick-billed heleia, occurs on Flores and Sumbawa.^[3]

Heleia
Mees's white-eye, Heleia javanica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Zosteropidae
Genus:	Heleia Hartlaub, 1865
Type species
Heleia muelleri (Timor heleia) Hartlaub, 1865

Taxonomy

The genus Heleia was introduced in 1865 by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub to accommodate the Timor heleia.^[4] The name is from Ancient Greek eleia, an unidentified small bird mentioned by the Greek scholar Callimachus.^[5]

The genus contains ten species:^[6]

• Javan heleia, Heleia javanica – montane Java and Bali
• Grey-hooded heleia, Heleia pinaiae – montane central Seram (central east Moluccas)
• Pygmy heleia, Heleia squamifrons – Borneo
• Mindanao heleia, Heleia goodfellowi – montane Mindanao (south Philippines)
• Sulawesi heleia, Heleia squamiceps – montane Sulawesi
• Eyebrowed heleia, Heleia superciliaris – montane Sumbawa and Flores (west, central Lesser Sunda Islands)
• Crested heleia, Heleia dohertyi – Sumbawa to Flores (west, central Lesser Sunda Islands)
• Timor heleia, Heleia muelleri – Timor (east Lesser Sunda Islands)
• Thick-billed heleia, Heleia crassirostris – Sumbawa and Flores (west, central Lesser Sunda Islands)
• Yellow-spectacled heleia, Heleia wallacei – Sumbawa to Sumba and Lembata (west, central Lesser Sunda Islands)