Sericornis
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sericornis is a genus of small, mainly insectivorous birds, the scrubwrens in the family Acanthizidae. Despite the similarity in shape and habits, the true wrens (Troglodytidae) are a quite unrelated group of passerines.
| Sericornis | |
|---|---|
| |
| A female (left) white-browed scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) sings to its mate | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Acanthizidae |
| Genus: | Sericornis Gould, 1838 |
| Type species | |
| Acanthiza frontalis | |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
Taxonomy
The genus Sericornis was introduced in 1838 by the English ornithologist John Gould with the type species asAcanthiza frontalis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827, the white-browed scrubwren.[1][2] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek σηρικος/sērikos meaning "silken" with ορνις/ornis, ορνιθος/ornithos meaning "bird".[3]
The genus previously contained additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study of the scrubwrens in 2018, several species were moved to the resurrected genus Aethomyias and the yellow-throated scrubwren was placed in its own monotypic genus Neosericornis.[4][5]
The genus contains seven species:[6]
- Large-billed scrubwren, Sericornis magnirostra
- Tropical scrubwren or Beccari's scrubwren, Sericornis beccarii - sometimes included in S. magnirostris
- Large scrubwren, Sericornis nouhuysi
- Spotted scrubwren, Sericornis maculatus - previously included in S. frontalis
- Tasmanian scrubwren or brown scrubwren, Sericornis humilis - previously included in S. frontalis
- Atherton scrubwren, Sericornis keri
- White-browed scrubwren, Sericornis frontalis
