Elaenia

Elaenia is a genus of passerine birds in the tyrant flycatcher family which occur in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Except by voice, specific identification is often difficult since many species are very similar. They are also known by the common name elaenia, which they share with the similar tyrant flycatchers of the genus Myiopagis.

Elaenia
Yellow-bellied elaenia (Elaenia flavogaster)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Elaenia
Sundevall, 1836
Type species
Muscicapa pagana[1] = Pipra flavogaster
Sundevall, 1836
Species

see text

Elaenia flycatchers are typically brownish, greyish or olive above, and off-white and/or pale yellow on the belly, with a white or pale yellowish eye-ring of variable strength and two or three wing bars. Some species show a crest; often with a semi-concealed white patch/streak.

Taxonomy

The genus Elaenia was introduced by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1836.[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the yellow-bellied elaenia.[3] The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek ελαινεος elaineos "of olive-oil" or "oleaginous".[4]

The genus contains 22 species:[5]

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Yellow-bellied elaeniaElaenia flavogasterCentral and South America as far as northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago.
Caribbean elaeniaElaenia martinicaWest Indies and parts of Central America.
Large elaeniaElaenia spectabiliswestern Amazonia to eastern Brazil and central Bolivia.
Noronha elaeniaElaenia ridleyanaFernando de Noronha
White-crested elaeniaElaenia albicepsPeru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and northernmost Chile.
Chilean elaeniaElaenia chilensissouthern Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego.
Small-billed elaeniaElaenia parvirostrisArgentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Olivaceous elaeniaElaenia mesoleucaArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Slaty elaeniaElaenia streperawestern Amazon Basin, Colombia and Venezuela.
Mottle-backed elaeniaElaenia gigasBolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Brownish elaeniaElaenia pelzelniBrazil, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia.
Plain-crested elaeniaElaenia cristataBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Lesser elaeniaElaenia chiriquensisArgentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Coopmans's elaeniaElaenia brachypterasouthwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador.
Rufous-crowned elaeniaElaenia ruficepsBrazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Mountain elaeniaElaenia frantziiGuatemala to Colombia and western Venezuela
Highland elaeniaElaenia obscurasoutheastern Ecuador to Bolivia and northwestern Argentina
Small-headed elaeniaElaenia sordidasoutheastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina.
Great elaeniaElaenia dayiVenezuela and far northern Brazil, and may also occur in Guyana.
Sierran elaeniaElaenia pallatangaeBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela.
Tepui elaeniaElaenia olivinaGuyana and Venezuela
Greater Antillean elaeniaElaenia fallaxHispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Jamaica.

See also

  • Myiopagis, another genus of tyrant flycatchers commonly known as elaenias

References

  1. "Tyrannidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. Sundevall, Carl Jakob (1836). "Elaenia". Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar. series 3 (in Latin). 23: 89.
  3. Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 26–27.
  4. Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Tyrant flycatchers". World Bird List Version 8.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
  • Stiles, F. Gary & Skutch, Alexander Frank (1989): A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4


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