''Anthoscopus'' is a genus of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s in the penduline tit family Remizidae. The genus is restricted to

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, where it ranges from the

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Unlike many of the

Eurasian penduline ''Remiz'' is a genus of birds in the family Remizidae, commonly known as the Eurasian pendulines (in contrast to the African pendulines). Like other penduline tit The penduline tits constitute the family, Remizidae, of small passerine bird ...

, these species are not generally migratory, instead remaining close to their breeding sites year round. A wide range of habitats is occupied by the six species, from deserts to woodlands to rainforest.

Nests

Their pendulous and elaborately woven nests have false entrances above the true entrance, these in turn lead to a false chamber. The true nesting chamber is accessed by the parent opening a hidden flap, entering and then closing the flap shut again, the two sides sealing with sticky spider webs. These false entrances are used to confuse potential predators and protect the eggs and nestlings.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Anthoscopus'' was introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. Cabanis was born in Berlin to an old Huguenot family who had moved from France. Little is known of his early life. He studied at the University of Berlin from 18 ...

with the

Cape penduline tit The Cape penduline tit or southern penduline tit (''Anthoscopus minutus'') is a species of bird in the family Remizidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry savannah, subtropical o ...

as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

''anthos'' meaning "blossom" or "flower" with ''skopos'' meaning "searcher". The genus contains the following six species:

References

Bird genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Remizidae-stub