Biology:Tinkerbird

Short description: Genus of birds

Tinkerbirds
Western tinkerbird (P. coryphaea) in Mgahinga National Park, Uganda
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Lybiidae
Genus:	Pogoniulus Lafresnaye, 1842
Species
Pogoniulus atroflavus Pogoniulus bilineatus Pogoniulus chrysoconus Pogoniulus coryphaea Pogoniulus leucomystax Pogoniulus makawai Pogoniulus pusillus Pogoniulus scolopaceus Pogoniulus simplex Pogoniulus subsulphureus

The tinkerbirds or tinker barbets are the genus Pogoniulus of the Lybiidae, the African barbet family of near passerines, which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. Tinkerbirds are widely distributed in tropical Africa.

List of species in taxonomic order

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Speckled tinkerbird	Pogoniulus scolopaceus	Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Uganda.
	Western tinkerbird	Pogoniulus coryphaea	Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda.
	Moustached tinkerbird	Pogoniulus leucomystax	Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
	Green tinkerbird	Pogoniulus simplex	Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
	Red-rumped tinkerbird	Pogoniulus atroflavus	Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.
	Yellow-throated tinkerbird	Pogoniulus subsulphureus	Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.
	Yellow-rumped tinkerbird	Pogoniulus bilineatus	Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
	Yellow-fronted tinkerbird	Pogoniulus chrysoconus	Africa south of the Sahara Desert
	Red-fronted tinkerbird	Pogoniulus pusillus	southern Sudan and Ethiopia south to central and eastern Tanzania, Mozambique and coastal South Africa.

Supposed fossil remains of Late Miocene tinkerbirds were found at Kohfidisch (Austria) but are not yet thoroughly studied. It is not clear whether they belong to an extant genus, but given the late date this may well be so.

References

• Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press, Prague. ISBN:80-901105-3-8 PDF fulltext

Wikidata ☰ Q244077 entry