''Spermestes'' 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 small seed-eating birds in the family
Estrildidae. They are distributed across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Spermestes'' was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist
William Swainson
William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist.
Life
Swains ...
to accommodate the
bronze mannikin. The 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 ...
''sperma'' meaning "seed" and ''-estēs'' meaning "-eater".
Based on the results of 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 2020, this genus was resurrected for a
clade
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
of species that were formerly assigned to the genera ''
Lonchura'' and ''Odontospiza''.
Species
The genus contains four species:
[
]
References
Bird genera
Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa
Taxa named by William Swainson
{{Estrildidae-stub