Xenops
| Xenops | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Streaked xenops | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Furnariidae |
| Subfamily: | Dendrocolaptinae |
| Genus: | Xenops Illiger, 1811 |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
Xenops is a genus in the bird family Furnariidae, the ovenbirds. They are found in Mexico, Central America and South America and tropical rain forest.
They are small birds with a longish tail, a laterally flattened bill with an upturned tip (except in the slender-billed xenops), brown back and buff or rufous wing stripe. They forage for insects on bark, rotting stumps or bare twigs, moving mechanically in all directions on the trunk like a woodcreeper, but without using the tail as a prop.
Together with the distinct great xenops (Megaxenops parnaguae), this genus forms the tribe Xenopini, which based on some recent studies belongs in the woodcreeper and xenops subfamily Dendrocolaptinae,[1] while others have found them to be part of the "traditional" ovenbirds.[2]
Species
Formerly, the rufous-tailed xenops was placed in this genus, but it has been moved to the monotypic Microxenops. The following species remain in the genus Xenops:
- Slender-billed xenops, Xenops tenuirostris
- Plain xenops, Xenops minutus
- Streaked xenops, Xenops rutilans
References
- ↑ Fjeldså, J., M. Irestedt, & P. G. P. Ericson (2005). Molecular data reveal some major adaptational shifts in the early evolution of the most diverse avian family, the Furnariidae. Journal of Ornithology 146: 1–13.
- ↑ Moyle, R. G., R. T. Chesser, R. T. Brumfield, J. G. Tello, D. J. Marchese, & J. Cracraft (2009). Phylogeny and phylogenetic classification of the antbirds, ovenbirds, woodcreepers, and allies (Aves: Passeriformes: infraorder Furnariides). Cladistics 25: 386-405.
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.