Sphenopsis

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

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

Taxonomy and species list

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

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. 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.