The Melanocharitidae, the berrypeckers and longbills, is a small bird family restricted to the forests of New Guinea.

They are small songbirds with generally dull plumage but a range of body shapes.

The two genera of berrypecker had been placed inside the flowerpecker family Dicaeidae, and the longbills were once considered to be honeyeaters (which they closely resemble).

[7] They may associate with mixed-species feeding flocks, but are loose members and not core species.

Most species feed in the lower and middle levels of the forest, although records suggest that the obscure berrypecker will enter the canopy to forage.

The male black berrypecker will also enter the canopy, while the female will remain lower down in the forest, suggesting some level of sexual segregation of feeding niches.

[1] They build a cup nest,[5][7] usually on a forked branch near the edge of a tree, out of fern scales and plant fibres bound neatly with insect or spider silk and ornamented with lichens.

[9] That species is known officially from two collected specimens, but unconfirmed reports suggest that it is not uncommon in remote parts of New Guinea.