''Prionochilus'' 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 ...

. The genus differs from 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 ...

'' in having ten long

primary feathers Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

in the wing and in the character of its calls. A study comparing the calls of the two genera suggested that ''Prionochilus'' is basal to ''Dicaeum''. The genus contains 5 species, in contrast to the 44 species in the genus ''Dicaeum''. They have a more restricted distribution than ''Dicaeum'', occurring in the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the Malay Peninsula.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Prionochilus'' was introduced in 1841 by the English naturalist

Hugh Edwin Strickland Hugh Edwin Strickland (2 March 1811 – 14 September 1853) was an English geologist, ornithology, ornithologist, naturalist and systematist. Through the British Association, he proposed a series of rules for the nomenclature of organisms in zool ...

. The name is derived from 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 ...

''prion'' for saw, and ''kheilos'' for lip, referring to the minute serrations along the edge of the

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

. 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 subsequently designated as ''Pardalotus percussus''

Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch patrician, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob ...

, 1826, the crimson-breasted flowerpecker. The genus contains five species: * Yellow-breasted flowerpecker (''Prionochilus maculatus'') * Crimson-breasted flowerpecker (''Prionochilus percussus'') * Palawan flowerpecker (''Prionochilus plateni'') * Scarlet-breasted flowerpecker (''Prionochilus thoracicus'') * Yellow-rumped flowerpecker (''Prionochilus xanthopygius'') In common with the other flowerpeckers, the ''Prionochilus'' flowerpeckers are small birds, between 9–10 cm in length and weighing 7-23 g. The bill of all the five 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. Four of the five species exhibit

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

with regards to plumage, with the males in these cases being more brightly coloured. In four of the five species at least one of the sexes have a white malar stripe on the throat, and all but one of the species has an orange or red patch on the crown. Like all members of the family the fruits, 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 ...

) are important to the ''Prionochilus'' flowerpeckers. 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. In addition to plant material insects and spiders are eaten as well. Information about the diet (and many other aspects of the biology of this genus and indeed family) is patchy and more research is needed.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q612893 Dicaeidae Bird genera Birds of Southeast Asia Taxa named by Hugh Edwin Strickland Taxonomy articles created by Polbot