Camaroptera


Camaroptera is a genus of small passerine birds in the family Cisticolidae that are found in sub-Saharan Africa.
The genus was erected by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1850. The type species is the green-backed camaroptera. The genus name Camaroptera comes from Ancient Greek καμαρα, meaning "arch", and πτερόν, meaning "wing".

Species

The genus contains the following five species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Green-backed camaropteraCamaroptera brachyuraZambia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania
Grey-backed camaropteraCamaroptera brevicaudataAfrica south of the Sahara Desert.
Hartert's camaropteraCamaroptera hartertiAngola.
Yellow-browed camaropteraCamaroptera superciliarisAngola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Uganda.
Olive-green camaropteraCamaroptera chloronotaBenin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.

Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the green-backed and the grey-backed camaroptera are closely related, and some taxonomists treat them as conspecific.