Stagonopleura | |
---|---|
Beautiful firetail (Stagonopleura bella) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Estrildidae |
Genus: |
Stagonopleura Reichenbach, 1850 |
Type species | |
Loxia guttata diamond firetail
Shaw, 1796
| |
Species | |
S. bella |
Stagonopleura is a genus of small seed-eating birds in the family Estrildidae that are native to Australia.
The species are similar in appearance, with short red bills, brown upperparts, red rumps and uppertail coverts, and barred or spotted underparts. The informal name of firetails refers to the rich crimson colour at the rump, a prominent characteristic of the genus. [1]
The genus Stagonopleura was introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1850. [2] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek stagōn meaning "spot" with pleura meaning "side" or "flank". [3] The type species was designated as the diamond firetail in 1851 by Jean Cabanis. [4] [5]
The three species in the genus are: [6]
Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Diamond firetail | Stagonopleura guttata | Eastern Australia from the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, to south-eastern Queensland, often on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range | |
Beautiful firetail | Stagonopleura bella | Southeast of Australia; Tasmania | |
Red-eared firetail | Stagonopleura oculata | Southwest Australia |