Sphenopsis is a genus of warbler-like birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. They are found in highland forest of South America.

Sphenopsis
Black-eared hemispingus (Sphenopsis melanotis)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Sphenopsis
Sclater, 1862
Type species
Sphenopsis ignobilis
Species

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Taxonomy and species list

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The four species now placed in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus Hemispingus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Hemispingus was polyphyletic and as part of the subsequent rearrangement, the genus Sphenopsis was resurrected for these four species.[1][2][3] The genus had been introduced in 1862 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater with the type species as Sphenopsis ignobilis, a taxon that is now treated as a subspecies of the oleaginous hemispingus.[3][4] The name Sphenopsis combines the Ancient Greek sphēn meaning "wedge" with opsis meaning "appearance".[5]

The four species in the genus are:[3]

Image Common Name Scientific name Distribution
  Oleaginous hemispingus Sphenopsis frontalis Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
  Black-eared hemispingus Sphenopsis melanotis Venezuela, through to western Bolivia
  Piura hemispingus Sphenopsis piurae Ecuador and Peru.
  Western hemispingus Sphenopsis ochracea Ecuador and Colombia.

References

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  1. ^ Burns, K.J.; Shultz, A.J.; Title, P.O.; Mason, N.A.; Barker, F.K.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2014). "Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 75: 41–77. Bibcode:2014MolPE..75...41B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006. PMID 24583021.
  2. ^ Burns, K.J.; Unitt, P.; Mason, N.A. (2016). "A genus-level classification of the family Thraupidae (Class Aves: Order Passeriformes)". Zootaxa. 4088 (3): 329–354. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4088.3.2. PMID 27394344.
  3. ^ a b c Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Tanagers and allies". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  4. ^ Sclater, Philip Lutley (1861). "Descriptions of twelve new species of American birds, of the families Dendrocolaptidae, Formicariidae, and Tyrannidae". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1861: 377–383 [379]. Although the title page is dated 1861, the article was not published until 1862.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 361. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.