sentences:  It has been reclassified several times and was previously named "Lichenostomus leucotis" and "Ptilotis leucotis torringtoni".The white-eared honeyeater was previously placed in the genus "Lichenostomus", but it was moved to "Nesoptilotis" after a molecular phylogenetic analysis, published in 2011, showed that the original genus was polyphyletic.It is a sister taxon to the yellow-throated honeyeater ("N. flavicollis") that occurs in Tasmania, and they belong to a clade that contains the genera "Entomyzon", "Melithreptus", and "Foulehaio".