Willisornis

Willisornis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thamnophilidae
Genus: Willisornis
Agne & Pacheco, 2007

Willisornis is a genus of birds in the Thamnophilidae family. These small, strongly sexually dichromatic birds are native to the Guianas and Amazon Rainforest in South America, and often follow army ants.

Taxonomy

Willisornis has traditionally been included in the genus Hylophylax, but is now known to be part of a different clade. The name Dichropogon was used briefly instead, but this name is preoccupied by a genus of asilid flies (Dichropogon Bezzi, 1910).[1][2] Until early 2011, the two species of Willisornis were considered conspecific.[3]

References

  1. ^ Revive the genus Dichropogon - South American Classification Committee (2007)
  2. ^ Reassign Dichropogon to Willisornis - South American Classification Committee (2008)
  3. ^ Isler & Whitney (2011). Species limits in antbirds (Thamnophilidae): The Scale-backed Antbird (Willisornis poecilinotus) complex. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(1): 1-14