Biology:Indicator (genus)

Short description: Genus of near passerine birds in the honeyguide family

Indicator
Lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Indicatoridae
Genus:	Indicator Stephens, 1815
Type species
Indicator sparrmanii Stephens, 1815
Species
See text

Indicator is a genus of near passerine birds in the honeyguide family. The name refers to the behaviour of some species, notably the greater honeyguide, which guide humans to bee colonies so that they can share in the spoils of wax and insects when the nest is broken into.

Indicator honeyguides are brood parasites which lay eggs in a nest of another species, in a series of about five during five to seven days. Most favour hole-nesting species, often the related barbets and woodpeckers. Nestlings have been known to physically eject their host's chicks from the nest, and they have hooks on their beaks with which they puncture the hosts' eggs or kill the nestlings, by repeated lacerations if not a fatal stab.

Species

The species in genus Indicator, in taxonomic order, are:

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Indicator maculatus	Spotted honeyguide	Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.
	Indicator variegatus	Scaly-throated honeyguide	Angola, Burundi, DRC, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
	Indicator indicator	Greater honeyguide	sub-Saharan Africa
	Indicator archipelagicus	Malaysian honeyguide	western Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and the island of Sumatra.
	Indicator minor	Lesser honeyguide	Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
	Indicator willcocksi	Willcocks's honeyguide	Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.
	Indicator exilis	Least honeyguide	Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.
	Indicator pumilio	Dwarf honeyguide	Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, and possibly Burundi.
	Indicator meliphilus	Pallid honeyguide	Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
	Indicator xanthonotus	Yellow-rumped honeyguide	Nepal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan

References

• Barlow, Clive; Tim Wacher; Tony Disley (1997). A Field Guide to the Birds of the Gambia and Senegal. A. & C. Black (Publishers) Ltd.. ISBN 1-873403-32-1. 

Wikidata ☰ Q1087793 entry