''Xenops'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

in the bird family Furnariidae, the

ovenbird The ovenbird (''Seiurus aurocapilla'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae). This migratory bird breeds in eastern North America and winters in Central America, many Caribbean islands, Florida and northern Venezuela ...

s. The genus comprises three species of xenops, all of which are found in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

, particularly in tropical rain forests. They are small birds with a longish tail, a laterally flattened bill with an upturned tip (except in the slender-billed xenops), brown back and buff or rufous wing stripe. They forage for

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s on bark, rotting stumps or bare twigs, moving mechanically in all directions on the trunk like a

woodcreeper The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of suboscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily ...

, but without using the tail as a prop. Together with the distinct

great xenops The great xenops (''Megaxenops parnaguae'') is a furnariid bird, which is endemic to the Caatinga region of north-eastern Brazil. It is monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately su ...

(''Megaxenops parnaguae''), this genus forms the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

Xenopini, which based on some recent studies belongs in the woodcreeper and xenops subfamily

Dendrocolaptinae The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of suboscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of th ...

,Fjeldså, J., M. Irestedt, & P. G. P. Ericson (2005). ''Molecular data reveal some major adaptational shifts in the early evolution of the most diverse avian family, the Furnariidae.'' Journal of Ornithology 146: 1–13. while others have found them to be part of the "traditional" ovenbirds.Moyle, R. G., R. T. Chesser, R. T. Brumfield, J. G. Tello, D. J. Marchese, & J. Cracraft (2009). ''Phylogeny and phylogenetic classification of the antbirds, ovenbirds, woodcreepers, and allies (Aves: Passeriformes: infraorder Furnariides).'' Cladistics 25: 386-405. A study from 2013 found that they should be a family distinct from both.

Species

Formerly, the

rufous-tailed xenops The rufous-tailed xenops (''Microxenops milleri'') is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical m ...

was placed in this genus, but it has been moved to the monotypic '' Microxenops''. The following species remain in the genus ''Xenops'':

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q372344 Bird genera