Coccopygia


Coccopygia, is a genus of small seed-eating birds in the family Estrildidae. They are distributed across central and southern Africa.

Taxonomy

The genus Coccopygia was introduced in 1862 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The name combines the Ancient Greek kokkos meaning "scarlet" with -pugios meaning "-rumped". The type species was designated as the swee waxbill by Richard [Bowdler Sharpe] in 1890. The genus Coccopygia is sister to the olivebacks in the genus Nesocharis.

Species

The genus contains three species:
ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Coccopygia quartiniaYellow-bellied waxbillEast Africa
Coccopygia melanotisSwee waxbillSouthern Africa
Coccopygia bocageiAngola waxbillAngola