Nectarinia


Nectarinia is a genus of birds in the sunbird family, Nectariniidae. What species belong to it has been highly contentious for many decades. Towards the late 20th century, the dominant trend was to use it to group all "typical" sunbirds. More recently taxonomists have divided the Nectarinia into eight genera which are now considered distinct from Nectarinia: Leptocoma, Anabathmis, Chalcomitra, Cinnyris, Cyanomitra, Dreptes, Anthobaphes, and Drepanorhynchus.

Taxonomy

The genus Nectarinia was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The type species was designated as Certhia famosa Linnaeus, 1766 by George Gray in 1840.

Species

The genus now contains six species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Bocage's sunbirdNectarinia bocagiiAngola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Purple-breasted sunbirdNectarinia purpureiventrisAlbertine Rift montane forests
Tacazze sunbirdNectarinia tacazzeEritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Bronze sunbirdNectarinia kilimensisAngola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia
Malachite sunbirdNectarinia famosaEthiopia southwards to South Africa
Scarlet-tufted sunbirdNectarinia johnstoniDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.