Yellow penduline tit (''Anthoscopus parvulus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family Remizidae. This small yellow

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird is found in semi-arid

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

regions of

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

Taxonomy

The yellow penduline tit was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1864 by the German explorer and ornithologist

Theodor von Heuglin Martin Theodor von Heuglin (20 March 1824, Hirschlanden, Württemberg5 November 1876), was a German explorer and ornithologist. Biography Heuglin was born in Hirschlanden (now part of Ditzingen) in Württemberg. His father was a Protestant past ...

under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Aegithalus parvulus''. This species is now placed in the

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 ...

''Anthoscopus'' that 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 genus 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 ...

''anthos'' meaning "blossom" or "flower" with ''skopos'' meaning "searcher". The specific epithet ''parvulus'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "very small" (a diminutive of ''parvus'' meaning "small"). The yellow penduline tit is considered by some to be

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

as no

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are clearly distinguishable. The ranges of some proposed subspecies are however widely disjunct. * ''A. parvulus senegalensis'' (Grote, 1924) described based on a specimen obtained by Victor Planchat from Saint Louis, Senegal. * ''A. parvulus aureus'' Bannerman, 1939 - N.W. Ghana * ''A. parvulus parvulus'' (Heuglin, 1864) - South Chad, Uganda

Description

The yellow penduline tit is around in overall length and weighs . It is olive-yellow above with bright yellow underparts and a dull greyish stripe through the eye. The upper wing is brown with feathers edged with yellow. The primaries are edged with buff-white which generates a narrow whitish wing panel. The tail is brown. The bird has a conical pointed bill and strong legs. The sexes are alike.

References

yellow penduline tit Yellow penduline tit (''Anthoscopus parvulus'') is a species of bird in the family Remizidae. This small yellow passerine bird is found in semi-arid savanna regions of West Africa. Taxonomy The yellow penduline tit was formally described i ...

Birds of Central Africa Birds of West Africa

Taxa named by Theodor von Heuglin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Remizidae-stub