''Nectarinia'' 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 Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 ...

. What

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

belong to it has been highly contentious for many decades. Towards the late 20th century, the dominant trend was to use it to group all "typical" sunbirds. More recently taxonomists have divided the Nectarinia into eight genera which are now considered distinct from Nectarinia: ''

Leptocoma ''Leptocoma'' is a genus of sunbirds found from tropical South Asia to Papua New Guinea. Its members are sometimes included in ''Nectarinia''. The sunbirds are a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, althoug ...

Anabathmis ''Anabathmis'' is a genus of sunbirds. Species It contains three species: The name is Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a br ...

, Chalcomitra,

Cinnyris ''Cinnyris'' is a genus of sunbirds. Its members are sometimes included in ''Nectarinia''. They are generally known as double-collared sunbirds because the fringe of their bib usually includes a band of contrastingly coloured feathers. The sunb ...

, Cyanomitra, Dreptes, Anthobaphes,'' and''

Drepanorhynchus The golden-winged sunbird (''Drepanorhynchus reichenowi'') is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. Three subspecies are recognised. It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests and East African montane forests. Description The ma ...

''.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Nectarinia'' was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist

Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (19 November 1775 – 10 May 1813) was a German entomologist and zoologist. He founded the entomological periodical ''Magazin für Insektenkunde.'' The plant genus '' Illigera'' is named in his honour. Biography Illi ...

. 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 ''Certhia famosa''

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 ...

, 1766 by George Gray in 1840.

Species

The genus now contains six species:

References

Bird genera Afromontane endemic bird species Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Nectariniidae-stub