Elaenia

For the Floating Points album, see Elaenia (album).

Elaenia is a genus of passerine birds in the tyrant flycatcher family which occur in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Except by voice, specific identification is often difficult since many species are very similar. They are also known by the common name elaenia, which they share with the similar tyrant flycatchers of the genus Myiopagis.

Elaenia
Yellow-bellied elaenia (Elaenia flavogaster)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Tyrannidae
Genus:	Elaenia Sundevall, 1836
Type species
Muscicapa pagana[1] = Pipra flavogaster Sundevall, 1836
Species
see text

Elaenia flycatchers are typically brownish, greyish or olive above, and off-white and/or pale yellow on the belly, with a white or pale yellowish eye-ring of variable strength and two or three wing bars. Some species show a crest; often with a semi-concealed white patch/streak.

Taxonomy

The genus Elaenia was introduced by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1836.^[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the yellow-bellied elaenia.^[3] The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek ελαινεος elaineos "of olive-oil" or "oleaginous".^[4]

The genus contains 22 species:^[5]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Yellow-bellied elaenia	Elaenia flavogaster	Central and South America as far as northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago.
	Caribbean elaenia	Elaenia martinica	West Indies and parts of Central America.
	Large elaenia	Elaenia spectabilis	western Amazonia to eastern Brazil and central Bolivia.
	Noronha elaenia	Elaenia ridleyana	Fernando de Noronha
	White-crested elaenia	Elaenia albiceps	Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and northernmost Chile.
	Chilean elaenia	Elaenia chilensis	southern Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego.
	Small-billed elaenia	Elaenia parvirostris	Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
	Olivaceous elaenia	Elaenia mesoleuca	Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
	Slaty elaenia	Elaenia strepera	western Amazon Basin, Colombia and Venezuela.
	Mottle-backed elaenia	Elaenia gigas	Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
	Brownish elaenia	Elaenia pelzelni	Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia.
	Plain-crested elaenia	Elaenia cristata	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
	Lesser elaenia	Elaenia chiriquensis	Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
	Coopmans's elaenia	Elaenia brachyptera	southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador.
	Rufous-crowned elaenia	Elaenia ruficeps	Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
	Mountain elaenia	Elaenia frantzii	Guatemala to Colombia and western Venezuela
	Highland elaenia	Elaenia obscura	southeastern Ecuador to Bolivia and northwestern Argentina
	Small-headed elaenia	Elaenia sordida	southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina.
	Great elaenia	Elaenia dayi	Venezuela and far northern Brazil, and may also occur in Guyana.
	Sierran elaenia	Elaenia pallatangae	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela.
	Tepui elaenia	Elaenia olivina	Guyana and Venezuela
	Greater Antillean elaenia	Elaenia fallax	Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Jamaica.

See also

• Myiopagis, another genus of tyrant flycatchers commonly known as elaenias

References

1. "Tyrannidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
2. Sundevall, Carl Jakob (1836). "Elaenia". Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar. series 3 (in Latin). 23: 89.
3. Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 26–27.
4. Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Tyrant flycatchers". World Bird List Version 8.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 1 July 2018.

• Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
• Stiles, F. Gary & Skutch, Alexander Frank (1989): A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4