''Phoeniculus'' is a genus 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

Phoeniculidae The wood hoopoes or scimitarbills are a small African family, Phoeniculidae, of near passerine birds. They live south of the Sahara Desert and are not migratory. While the family is now restricted to Sub-Saharan Africa, fossil evidence shows th ...

. They are restricted to

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Phoeniculus'' was introduced in 1821 by the Polish zoologist

Feliks Paweł Jarocki Feliks Paweł Jarocki (Pacanów, 14 January 1790 – 25 March 1865, Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and entomologist. Life Jarocki was a Doctor of Liberal Arts and Philosophy. He organized and managed the Zoological Cabinet of the Royal Univers ...

with ''Upupa erythrorhynchus'' ( Latham) (the

green wood hoopoe The green wood hoopoe (''Phoeniculus purpureus'') is a large, up to long tropical bird native to Africa. It is a member of the family Phoeniculidae, the wood hoopoes, and was formerly known as the red-billed wood hoopoe. Taxonomy In 1784 the En ...

) 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 is a diminutive of 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 ...

φοινιξ/''phoinix'', φοινικος/''phoinikos'', the phoenix. The genus contains the following 5 species: Members of this genus have long, slightly down-curved, pointed bills with stout bases. Most spend the day in flocks of 5 to 12 birds, acrobatically climbing in trees or hanging underneath branches, sticking their bills into crevices in search of insects and other small arthropods. They may brace themselves with their long tails as

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...

s do, but the tail feathers are not stiff like woodpeckers' and wear easily. Though their feet are strong, their floppy and bounding flight is weak and not sustained long. They are noisy and may take breaks from foraging to engage in a "rally": they "cackle" or "chuckle" together and rock back and forth, the wings half opened, the tail oscillating up and down. This ceremony helps keep the group together. In adult green wood hoopoes (''Phoeniculus purpureus''), males exhibit a notable sexual dimorphism with bills that are 36% longer than those of females. This characteristic is not attributed to sexual selection or reproductive roles, but rather to ecological separation, which minimizes foraging competition among the sexes. The groups consist largely of parents, helpers, and young. Helpers are birds that, instead of breeding, help another pair defend the nest and feed the young. This practice improves reproductive success. The helpers may breed the following year; as a result of the bonds they formed with the young they helped, the latter may become their helpers in turn.

References

Taxa named by Feliks Paweł Jarocki Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Bucerotiformes-stub