Tinkerbird
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The tinkerbirds or tinker barbets are the genus Pogoniulus in the African barbet family Lybiidae. The genus was formerly included in the family Capitonidae and sometimes in the family Ramphastidae. Tinkerbirds are widely distributed in tropical Africa.
The tinkerbirds or tinker barbets are the genus Pogoniulus in the African barbet family Lybiidae. The genus was formerly included in the family Capitonidae and sometimes in the family Ramphastidae. Tinkerbirds are widely distributed in tropical Africa.
Taxonomy
The genus Pogoniulus was introduced in 1842 by the French ornithologist Frédéric de Lafresnaye with "Le Barbion mâle" Levaillant, that is Bucco pusillus Dumont, 1805, as the type species, now the southern red-fronted tinkerbird. The genus name is a diminutive of the name Pogonias that had been introduced in 1811 by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. Pogonias is from the Ancient Greek πωγωνιας/pōgōnias meaning "bearded". The genus contains 10 species: 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.
Footnotes
References
Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press, Prague. PDF fulltext
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377434033 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.