[2] Richard Schodde united them into a single species in 1975, though Hugh Ford queried this in 1986, as he felt the two forms were as distinct as the yellow-tinted and fuscous honeyeaters that had similar ranges.

[4] Since then they have been maintained as two subspecies of M. gularis, though Christidis and Boles noted in 2008 that data was limited and more fieldwork and genetic investigation were needed.

[5] Genetic data published in 2010 shows the two taxa diverged between 0.3 and 1.2 million years ago, separated by the Carpentarian Barrier, located south of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

[3] The golden-backed subspecies differs by having a yellow nape and rump, green-yellow back, smaller black on chin, more grey-white than buff breast, white flanks and abdomen, lighter brown wings, green-edged rectrices, and yellow-green bare skin around the eyes.

[3] The range of the black-chinned honeyeater is across northern Australia, from northwest Western Australia (including the Kimberley, Pilbara, Great Sandy and northern Gibson deserts), through the Top End and the Gulf Country to Cape York in Queensland, through central and eastern Queensland and into central New South Wales.

The nest is a thick-walled bowl of grasses and bits of bark, lined with softer plant material, hidden in the outer foliage of a tall tree, usually a eucalypt.