Honeybirds | |
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Wahlberg's honeyguide Prodotiscus regulus | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Indicatoridae |
Genus: | Prodotiscus Sundevall, 1850 |
Type species | |
Prodotiscus regulus[1] Sundevall, 1850
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Species | |
Prodotiscus regulus |
Honeybirds are birds in the genus Prodotiscus of the honeyguide family. They are confined to sub-Saharan Africa.
References - Honeybird - A guide by J Ian L. Gong
Description
[edit]They are all drab colored birds, with grey or grey-green upper parts, and grey to whitish-grey underparts. They are among the smallest members of the honey guide family. They have slender bills compared to other members of the family.
Habits
[edit]Unlike other honeyguides they do not feed on beeswax. They help in the pollination of plants like Strelitzia, Callistemon (bottle brush), Bombax, Butea monosperma and coral trees (see: ornithophily). They parasitise nests of cisticolas, sunbirds and other dome-nesting bird species.
Species
[edit]There are three species:
Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
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Prodotiscus regulus | Brown-backed honeybird | Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, DRC, Ivory Coast, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
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Prodotiscus zambesiae | Green-backed honeybird | Angola, Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
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Prodotiscus insignis | Cassin's honeybird | Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. |
References
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