Island Leaf Warbler

The island leaf warbler is a member of Phylloscopidae distributed from the Moluccas east through New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago to the Solomon Islands. Tommaso Salvadori described it in 1876 from an Arfak Mountains specimen as Gerygone? poliocephala. The epithet poliocephalus combines Greek roots meaning grey or grizzled and headed. It is now placed in Phylloscopus, a genus introduced by Friedrich Boie in 1826 (Wikipedia general taxonomic account).

Eighteen subspecies are recognised in the account opened, most tied to separate montane island populations. The form relevant nearest Sulawesi is P. p. suaramerdu, described in 2020 from montane Peleng in the Banggai Islands and called the Peleng leaf warbler. Another recently named form, emilsalimi, occupies montane Taliabu in the Sula Islands. The source provides no dependable species-wide measurements, diet, nesting or voice, so this entry keeps to verified taxonomy and geography rather than merging traits from the many island forms (Wikipedia general taxonomic account).