Cyanomitra

Cyanomitra is a genus of African sunbirds. Its members are sometimes included in Nectarinia.

Cyanomitra
Eastern olive sunbird (Cyanomitra olivacea)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Nectariniidae
Genus:	Cyanomitra Reichenbach, 1853
Type species
Certhia cyanocephala[1] Shaw, 1812
Species
See text

The sunbirds are a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time.

Taxonomy

The genus Cyanomitra was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.^[2] The name combines the Ancient Greek kuanos meaning "dark-blue" with mitra meaning "head-band".^[3] The type species was designated by George Robert Gray in 1855 as Certhia cyanocephala Shaw.^[4][5] This taxon is now considered to be a subspecies of the green-headed sunbird (Cyanomitra verticalis cyanocephala'').^[6]

Species

The genus contains 7 species:^[6]

Image	Common name	Scientific Name	Distribution
	Green-headed sunbird	Cyanomitra verticalis	Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.
	Bannerman's sunbird	Cyanomitra bannermani	Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
	Blue-throated brown sunbird	Cyanomitra cyanolaema	African tropical rainforest
	Cameroon sunbird	Cyanomitra oritis	Western High Plateau & Bioko
	Blue-headed sunbird	Cyanomitra alinae	Albertine Rift montane forests
	Olive sunbird	Cyanomitra olivacea	Africa south of the Sahel.
	Grey sunbird	Cyanomitra veroxii	Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Tanzania.

References

1. "Nectariniidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
2. Reichenbach, Ludwig (1853). "Icones ad synopsin avium No. 11. Scansoriae B". Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie (in German). Dresden und Leipzig: Expedition Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte. pp. 219–316 [221, 291].
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 137.
5. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1986). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 223.
6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Dippers, leafbirds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds". World Bird List Version 9.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 30 January 2019.

Further reading

• Barlow, Wacher and Disley, Birds of The Gambia ISBN 1-873403-32-1
• Sinclair, Ian; Hockey, Phil; Tarboton, Warwick (2002). SASOL Birds of Southern Africa. Struik. ISBN 1-86872-721-1.