''Cercomacroides'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

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 are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

birds in the family

Thamnophilidae The antbirds are a large passerine bird family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 230 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire ...

. The genus contains six species: *

Willis's antbird Willis's antbird (''Cercomacroides laeta''), also known as the laeta antbird, is a species of bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is endemic to Brazil. It was formerly considered a subspecies of dusky antbird. Its natural habitats are subtropi ...

(''Cercomacroides laeta'') *

Parker's antbird Parker's antbird (''Cercomacroides parkeri'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is endemic to Colombia. Parker's antbird was described by the American ornithologist Gary Graves in 1997 and given the binomial nam ...

(''Cercomacroides parkeri'') *

Blackish antbird The blackish antbird (''Cercomacroides nigrescens'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, and Suriname. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropic ...

(''Cercomacroides nigrescens'') *

Riparian antbird The riparian antbird (''Cercomacroides fuscicauda'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is found in southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, northern Bolivia and southwestern Amazonian Brazil. Its natur ...

(''Cercomacroides fuscicauda'') *

Dusky antbird The dusky antbird or tyrannine antbird (''Cercomacroides tyrannina'') is a passerine bird in the antbird family. It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America from southeastern Mexico southwards to western Ecuador, and Amazonian ...

(''Cercomacroides tyrannina'') *

Black antbird The black antbird (''Cercomacroides serva'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. The blac ...

(''Cercomacroides serva'') These species were formerly placed in the genus ''

Cercomacra ''Cercomacra'' is a genus of passerine birds in the family Thamnophilidae. The genus was erected by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1858. The type species was subsequently designated as the Rio de Janeiro antbird. The genus contains se ...

''. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014 found that ''Cercomacra'', as then defined, was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

. The genus was split to create

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

genera and six species were moved to the newly erected genus ''Cercomacroides'' with the dusky antbird as the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

References

Bird genera {{Thamnophilidae-stub