''Caprimulgus'' is a large and very widespread

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 ...

nightjar Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called bugeaters, their primary source of food ...

s, medium-sized

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

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 ...

s with long pointed wings, short legs and short bills. ''Caprimulgus'' is derived from the Latin ''capra'', "nanny goat", and ''mulgere'', "to milk", referring to an old myth that nightjars suck milk from goats. The common name "nightjar", first recorded in 1630, refers to the nocturnal habits of the bird, the second part of the name deriving from the distinctive churring song. ''Caprimulgus'' nightjars are found around

Afro-Eurasia Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia and Eurafrasia) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound (linguistics), compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Afro-Eurasia has also been called th ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

, and like other nightjars they usually nest on the ground. They are mostly active in the late evening and early morning or at night, and feed predominantly on moths and other large flying insects. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves. Some species, unusually for birds, perch along a branch, rather than across it, which helps to conceal them during the day. Temperate species are strongly migratory, wintering in the tropics. ''Caprimulgus'' species have relatively long bills and rictal bristles. Many have repetitive and often mechanical songs.

Taxonomy

The

''Caprimulgus'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in the

tenth edition Tenth may refer to: Numbers * 10th, the ordinal form of the number ten * One tenth, , or 0.1, a fraction, one part of a unit divided equally into ten parts. ** the SI prefix deci- ** tithe, a one-tenth part of something * 1/10 of any unit of me ...

of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

''. 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 ...

is the

European nightjar The European nightjar (''Caprimulgus europaeus''), common goatsucker, Eurasian nightjar or just nightjar is a crepuscular and nocturnal bird in the nightjar family that breeds across most of Europe and the Palearctic to Mongolia and Northweste ...

(''Caprimulgus europaeus''). The name is the

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 ...

word for a nightjar; it combines ''capra'' meaning "nanny goat" and ''mulgere'' meaning "to milk". The myth that nightjars suck milk from goats is recounted by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

in his ''

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

'': "Those called goat-suckers, which resemble a rather large blackbird, are night thieves. They enter the shepherds' stalls and fly to the goats' udders in order to suck their milk, which injures the udder and makes it perish, and the goats they have milked in this way gradually go blind."

Species

The genus contains 39 species. * Red-necked nightjar, ''Caprimulgus ruficollis'' *

Jungle nightjar The jungle nightjar (''Caprimulgus indicus'') is a species of nightjar found in the Indian Subcontinent. It is found mainly on the edge of forests where it is seen or heard at dusk. The taxonomy of this and related nightjars is complex and a rang ...

, ''Caprimulgus indicus'' * Grey nightjar, ''Caprimulgus jotaka'' (sometimes included in ''C. indicus'') *

Palau nightjar The Palau nightjar (''Caprimulgus phalaena'') is a species of nightjar endemic to Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of P ...

, ''Caprimulgus phalaena'' *

, ''Caprimulgus europaeus'' * Sombre nightjar, ''Caprimulgus fraenatus'' *

Rufous-cheeked nightjar The rufous-cheeked nightjar (''Caprimulgus rufigena'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is an intra-African migrant that breeds in the south of its range. It spends the non-breeding season in eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, so ...

, ''Caprimulgus rufigena'' *

Egyptian nightjar The Egyptian nightjar (''Caprimulgus aegyptius'') is a medium-small nightjar which occurs in south west Asia and north Africa and winters in tropical Africa. This is a fairly common species with a wide distribution which faces no obvious threats ...

, ''Caprimulgus aegyptius'' *

Sykes's nightjar The Sykes's nightjar, Sykes' nightjar, Sind nightjar or Sindh nightjar (''Caprimulgus mahrattensis'') is a nightjar species found in northwestern South Asia. This species has a large range with stable population size and therefore has been listed ...

, ''Caprimulgus mahrattensis'' *

Nubian nightjar The Nubian nightjar (''Caprimulgus nubicus'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in salt marshes of Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Israel, Kenya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen Yemen, offi ...

, ''Caprimulgus nubicus'' *

Golden nightjar The golden nightjar (''Caprimulgus eximius'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Sahel region in northern Sub-Saharan Africa. Description The golden nightjar is a distinctively coloured, smallish nightjar whic ...

, ''Caprimulgus eximius'' *

Jerdon's nightjar Jerdon's nightjar (''Caprimulgus atripennis'') is a medium-sized nightjar species native to southern India and Sri Lanka. Formerly considered as a subspecies of the long-tailed nightjar, it is best recognized by its distinctive call which sounds l ...

''Caprimulgus atripennis'' *

Large-tailed nightjar The large-tailed nightjar (''Caprimulgus macrurus'') is a species of nightjar known for its distinctive long, broad tail and cryptic plumage that allows it to blend into its surroundings. Found along the southern Himalayan foothills, eastern So ...

, ''Caprimulgus macrurus'' *

Mees's nightjar Mees's nightjar (''Caprimulgus meesi'') is a member of the nightjar family (Caprimulgidae) described as new to science in 2004. It is a representative of the large-tailed nightjar complex found on Flores and Sumba, Indonesia. Previously unrecogn ...

, ''Caprimulgus meesi'' *

Timor nightjar The Timor nightjar (''Caprimulgus ritae'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Southeast Asia on the islands of Timor, Rote and Wetar in the Lesser Sunda Islands. It was first described in 2024 by Ben King and c ...

, ''Caprimulgus ritae'' *

Andaman nightjar The Andaman nightjar (''Caprimulgus andamanicus'') is a species of nightjar found in the Andaman Islands. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the large-tailed nightjar The large-tailed nightjar (''Caprimulgus macrurus'') is a species o ...

, ''Caprimulgus andamanicus'' * Philippine nightjar, ''Caprimulgus manillensis'' * Sulawesi nightjar, ''Caprimulgus celebensis'' * Donaldson Smith's nightjar, ''Caprimulgus donaldsoni'' * Fiery-necked nightjar, ''Caprimulgus pectoralis'' * Montane nightjar, ''Caprimulgus poliocephalus'' * Indian nightjar, ''Caprimulgus asiaticus'' * Madagascar nightjar, ''Caprimulgus madagascariensis'' *

Swamp nightjar The swamp nightjar or Natal nightjar (''Caprimulgus natalensis'') is a crepuscular and nocturnal bird in the nightjar family found in Africa. Distribution and habitat It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of the Cong ...

, ''Caprimulgus natalensis'' *

Nechisar nightjar The Nechisar nightjar (''Caprimulgus solala'') is a hypothetical species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is endemic to Ethiopia. The species was first discovered in 1990 when researchers discovered a decomposing specimen in the Nec ...

''Caprimulgus solala'' * Plain nightjar, ''Caprimulgus inornatus'' * Star-spotted nightjar, ''Caprimulgus stellatus'' *

Savanna nightjar The savanna nightjar (''Caprimulgus affinis''), also known as allied nightjar or Franklin's nightjar, is a species of nightjar found in South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. The IUCN Red List has assessed the species to be of least concern becaus ...

, ''Caprimulgus affinis'' *

Chirruping nightjar The chirruping nightjar or kayumanggi nightjar (''Caprimulgus griseatus'') is a species of nightjar found in the Philippines. This species was formerly conspecific with the Savanna nightjar but was designated as its own distinct species due to it ...

, ''Caprimulgus griseatus'' *

Freckled nightjar The freckled nightjar or freckled rock nightjar (''Caprimulgus tristigma'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It has a wide yet patchy distribution throughout the Afrotropics. Range and habitat This species occurs throughout ...

, ''Caprimulgus tristigma'' * Bonaparte's nightjar, ''Caprimulgus concretus'' * Salvadori's nightjar, ''Caprimulgus pulchellus'' * Prigogine's nightjar, ''Caprimulgus prigoginei'' * Bates's nightjar, ''Caprimulgus batesi'' * Long-tailed nightjar, ''Caprimulgus climacurus'' * Slender-tailed nightjar, ''Caprimulgus clarus'' * Square-tailed nightjar, ''Caprimulgus fossii'' *

Standard-winged nightjar The standard-winged nightjar (''Caprimulgus longipennis'') is a nocturnal bird in the nightjar family. Previously placed with the pennant-winged nightjar (''Caprimulgus vexillarius'') in their own genus, ''Macrodipteryx'', it is native to Afric ...

, ''Caprimulgus longipennis'' *

Pennant-winged nightjar The pennant-winged nightjar (''Caprimulgus vexillarius'') is a species of nightjar that occurs from Nigeria to northern South Africa. It is an intra-African migrant and displays remarkable sexual dimorphism in the breeding season. Range and ha ...

, ''Caprimulgus vexillarius''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caprimulgus Bird genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus