Longclaw

Longclaws
Yellow-throated longclaw
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Motacillidae
Genus:Macronyx
Swainson, 1827
Species

Many, see text

The longclaws are a genus, Macronyx, of small African passerine birds in the family Motacillidae.

Longclaws are slender, often colorful, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. They are ground nesters, laying up to four speckled eggs. They are named for their unusually long hind claws, which are thought to help in walking on grass. There are only between 10,000 and 19,000 Sharpe's longclaw left in Kenya.

The genus Macronyx was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1827 with the Cape longclaw as the type species.[1][2] The name combines the Classical Greek words makros "long" or "great" and onux "claw".[3]

Species list

The genus contains eight species:[4]

References

  1. ↑ Swainson, William John (1827). "On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined". Zoological Journal. 3: 343-363 [344].
  2. ↑ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 142.
  3. ↑ 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 2 May 2018.
  4. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
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