Biology:Gerygone

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Short description: Genus of birds


Gerygones
Gerygone palpebrosa.jpg
Fairy gerygone
(Gerygone palpebrosa)
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Acanthizidae
Genus: Gerygone
Gould, 1841
Type species
Psilopus albogularis[1]
Gould, 1838

Gerygone (/əˈrɪɡəni/), the gerygones or peep-warblers, is a genus of bird in the family Acanthizidae. The genus ranges from Southeast Asia through New Guinea and Australia to New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. Most of the species are found in Australia and New Guinea; only one, the golden-bellied gerygone, has managed to cross Wallace's Line and colonise as far as Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines .

Gerygones are insectivores which obtain most of their food by gleaning and snatching in the foliage of trees and bushes. They are small, mostly weighing an average of 6–7 g, and show little variation in size across their range, except for the insular Chatham gerygone, which is nearly twice as large as the rest of the genus.

Their songs are described as "simple but delightful", many descending in pitch, and some species are excellent mimics. "Gerygone" means "born of sound" (Magrath 2003).

Taxonomy

In 1838 the English ornithologist John Gould introduced the genus Psilopus in which he placed four species. He specified the type species as Psilopus albogularis. This is now considered to be a junior synonym of Gerygone olivacea, the white-throated gerygone, as Gerygone olivacea was listed earlier on the page in Gould's work.[2][3][4] In 1841, Gould, in a list of birds found on the western coast of Australia, added a note in which he replaced the name Psilopus with the name Gerygone as Psilopus had been previously employed in entomology by Johann Wilhelm Meigen.[5][6] The genus name Gerygone is from Ancient Greek gērugonos meaning "echoes".[7]

The genus contains 20 species including one which is now extinct:[8]

References

  1. "Acanthizidae". The Trust for Avian Systematics. https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=170. 
  2. Gould, John (1838). A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia, and the Adjacent Islands. London: self. Part 4, unpaginated. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47441718. 
  3. Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 444. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14484145. 
  4. Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-9568611-2-2. 
  5. Gould, John (1841). "A list of birds of the western coast". in Grey, George. Journals of two expeditions of discovery in north-west and western Australia, during the years 1837, 38, and 39, under the authority of her Majesty's Government, describing many newly discovered, important and fertile districts : with observations on the moral and physical condition of the aboriginal inhabitants. 2. London: T. & W. Boone. pp. 415-421 [417]. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JUNCAAAAcAAJ/page/417/mode/1up. 
  6. Meigen, Johann Wilhelm (1824). Systematische Beschreibung der bekannten europäischen zweiflügeligen Insekten. 4. Aachen: Schultz-Wundermann, Beaufort. p. 35. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13649881. 
  7. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4. https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n172/mode/1up. 
  8. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds (July 2023). "Bristlebirds, pardalotes, Australasian warblers". World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/bristlebirds/. 

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q1009981 entry