Lophophanes


Lophophanes is a small genus of birds in the tit family Paridae.

Taxonomy

The genus Lophophanes was introduced in 1829 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup with Parus cristatus, Linnaeus, 1758, as the type species.
The genus name is from the Ancient Greek lophos, "crest", and phaino, "to show". The genus was formerly synonymised with the genus Parus but based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005, the genus was resurrected to contain two species: the crested tit and the grey-crested tit.
The genus contains the following two species:
ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Lophophanes cristatusCrested titcentral and northern Europe
Lophophanes dichrousGrey-crested titsouthern-central China