''Microcerculus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of birds in the wren family Troglodytidae that are endemic to

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and tropical regions of South America. These are small wrens with very short tails, long legs and a long bill. They forage on or near the ground in humid forests. The genus was first mentioned in print by the English naturalist

Osbert Salvin Osbert Salvin (25 February 1835 – 1 June 1898) was an English natural history, naturalist, Ornithology, ornithologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist best known for co-authoring ''Biologia Centrali-Americana'' (1879–1915) with Frederick DuC ...

in 1861. Salvin credits the zoologist

Philip Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an England, English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological ...

for coining the name but Sclater's book on American birds was not published until 1862. Some taxonomists credit Sclater for erecting the genus in 1862. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

was subsequently designated as the wing-banded wren (''Microcerculus bambla'') by the American naturalist Spencer Baird in 1864. The genus name is a diminutive of the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''mikros'' meaning "small" and ''kerkos'' meaning "tail". The genus contains the following species: * Wing-banded wren (''Microcerculus bambla'') * Southern nightingale-wren (''Microcerculus marginatus'') * Northern nightingale-wren (''Microcerculus philomela'') * Flutist wren (''Microcerculus ustulatus'')

References

Troglodytidae Taxa named by Osbert Salvin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Troglodytidae-stub