Eulacestomatidae – Ploughbill

The Wattled Ploughbill Eulacestoma nigropectus is a small, approximately 14cm long, olive-brown passerine with a strong, thick, wedge-shaped black bill, the upper mandible of which is hooked, used to plough into dead tree branches. It is sexually dimorphic; the male having black underparts, black wings and a large circular pink wattle on the cheek, whereas the female has olive green plumage and is pale olive below. It is also known as the Wattled Shrike-tit or Ploughshare Tit. Only the adult male has wattles.

It is the only member of the monotypic genus Eulacestoma and family Eulacestomidae. The Wattled Ploughbill is distributed along, and endemic to the central mountain ranges of New Guinea. Its diet consists mainly of insects. It is widespread throughout its large range so is evaluated as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

This is a newly created family of just one species:

Wattled Ploughbill Eulacestoma nigropectus