''Aethopyga'' 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 sunbird family

Nectariniidae Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...

. Species in this genus are found in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and parts of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Many species such as the

grey-hooded sunbird The grey-hooded sunbird (''Aethopyga primigenia'') is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is endemic to the Philippines found only in the moist montane forests of Mindanao. It is one of the three montane Mindanao endemic sunbirds al ...

Apo sunbird The Apo sunbird (''Aethopyga boltoni'') is a species of bird in the sunbird family Nectariniidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.It is found in tropical moist montane forests above 1,500 meters above sea level ...

metallic-winged sunbird The metallic-winged sunbird (''Aethopyga pulcherrima'') is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests and tropical moist montane forests. This species ...

, handsome sunbird, and

Lina's sunbird Lina's sunbird (''Aethopyga linaraborae'') is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae It is endemic to mountains in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is one of the most striking sunbirds in the country with the male having an ...

are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Aethopyga'' was introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...

. The name combines 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 ...

''aithos '' meaning "fire" or "burning heat" with ''pugē'' meaning "rump". 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 designated as the

crimson sunbird The crimson sunbird (''Aethopyga siparaja'') is a species of bird in the sunbird family which feed largely on nectar. They may also take insects, especially when feeding their young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species ca ...

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoology, zoologist and author, and head of the Ornithology, ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London f ...

in 1855.

Species

The genus contains 21 species:

References

Bird genera Birds of Indomalaya Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Nectariniidae-stub