''Pachyglossa'' is one of the three

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

of flowerpeckers that make up the family

Dicaeidae The flowerpeckers are a family (biology), family, Dicaeidae, of passerine birds. The family comprises three genera, ''Dicaeum'', ''Prionochilus'' and ''Pachyglossa'', with 56 species in total. The family has sometimes been included in an enlarge ...

. These species are found in montane areas of

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

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 ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Pachyglossa'' was introduced in 1843 by the English zoologist

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. He set about updating the museum ...

with ''Pachyglossa melanoxantha'', Blyth, (the yellow-bellied flowerpecker) as 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 ...

. 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 ...

παχυς/''pakhus'' meaning "thick" with γλωσσα/''glōssa'' meaning "tongue", "mouth" (or "bill"). Molecular phylogetic studies of the flowerpecker family found that the genus ''

Dicaeum ''Dicaeum'' is a genus of birds in the flowerpecker family Dicaeidae, a group of passerines tropical southern Asia and Australasia from India east to the Philippines and south to Australia. Within the family Dicaeidae the genus ''Dicaeum'' is ...

'' was

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

with respect to '' Prionochilus''. To resolve the paraphyly the genus ''Pachyglossa'' was resurrected to contain several species previously placed in ''Dicaeum'' as well as one species from '' Prionochilus'', the olive-backed flowerpecker, for which the phylogeny is less certain. The genus contains seven species: * Olive-backed flowerpecker, ''Pachyglossa olivacea'' – Philippines (except

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

group,

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of ...

, West Visayas and

Sulu Archipelago The Sulu Archipelago ( Tausug: Kapū'-pūan sin Sūg Sulat Sūg: , ) is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Se ...

) * Whiskered flowerpecker, ''Pachyglossa propria'' – montane

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

(south Philippines) * Yellow-vented flowerpecker, ''Pachyglossa chrysorrhea'' – Himalayas to

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

and

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

* Yellow-bellied flowerpecker, ''Pachyglossa melanozantha'' – Himalayas to Thailand * Legge's flowerpecker, ''Pachyglossa vincens'' – Sri Lanka * Brown-backed flowerpecker, ''Pachyglossa everetti'' –

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

Riau Islands The Riau Islands () is a provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia consisting of a group of islands located in the western part of the country. It was established in 2002 after being separated from the neighboring Riau Province. The capit ...

(east of central

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

) and

* Thick-billed flowerpecker, ''Pachyglossa agilis'' – widespread, also

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

In common with the other flowerpeckers, the ''Pachyglossa'' flowerpeckers are small birds, between in length and weighing . The bill of all the 7 species is deep, broad and short. In terms of

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

the genus is fairly variable. Like all members of the family nectar and pollen of

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...

(

Loranthaceae Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are '' Nuytsia floribunda'' (the ...

) form an important part of their diet. In addition, other fruits are taken. Smaller fruits are consumed whole, or squeezed until skin is removed and discarded, then swallowed, whereas larger fruits are pierced with the bill and chunks removed and swallowed. Insects and spiders are also eaten.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1227674 Dicaeidae Bird genera Birds of Southeast Asia Taxa named by Edward Blyth