''Antrostomus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

nightjar Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tal ...

s formerly included in the genus '' Caprimulgus''. They are medium-sized nocturnal

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 lightweig ...

s with long pointed wings, short legs and short bills. ''Antrostomus'' nightjars are found in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

, and like other nightjars they usually nest on the ground. They are mostly active in the late evening and early morning or at night, and feed predominantly on moths and other large flying insects. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves. They have relatively long bills and rictal bristles. Some species, unusually for birds, perch along a branch, rather than across it, which helps to conceal them during the day. Temperate species are strongly migratory, wintering in the tropics. Many have repetitive and often mechanical songs. These species were formerly placed in the genus '' Caprimulgus'' but were moved to the resurrected genus ''Antrostomus'' based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010. The genus ''Antrostomus'' was erected by the French naturalist Charles Bonaparte in 1838 with the

chuck-will's-widow The chuck-will's-widow (''Antrostomus carolinensis'') is a nocturnal bird of the nightjar family Caprimulgidae. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States (with disjunct populations in Long Island, New York, Ontario, Canada and Cape C ...

(''Antrostomus carolinensis'') 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 specime ...

. The generic 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 p ...

''antron'' meaning "cavern" and ''stoma'' meaning "mouth".

Species

The genus contains 12 species: *

Chuck-will's-widow The chuck-will's-widow (''Antrostomus carolinensis'') is a nocturnal bird of the nightjar family Caprimulgidae. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States (with disjunct populations in Long Island, New York, Ontario, Canada and Cape C ...

''Antrostomus carolinensis'' *

Rufous nightjar The rufous nightjar (''Antrostomus rufus'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tob ...

, ''Antrostomus rufus'' *

Cuban nightjar The Cuban nightjar (''Antrostomus cubanensis''), is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is endemic to Cuba. Taxonomy and systematics The Cuban nightjar was originally described as ''Antrostomus cubanensis''; the genus was l ...

, ''Antrostomus cubanensis'' *

Hispaniolan nightjar The Hispaniolan nightjar (''Antrostomus ekmani'') is a nightjar species endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Taxonomy and systematics The Hispaniolan nightjar was originally descri ...

, ''Antrostomus ekmani'' *

Tawny-collared nightjar The tawny-collared nightjar (''Antrostomus salvini'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is endemic to Mexico. Taxonomy and systematics The tawny-collared nightjar was originally described as ''Caprimulgus salvini''; ' ...

, ''Antrostomus salvini'' *

Yucatan nightjar The Yucatan nightjar (''Antrostomus badius'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras.Schulenberg, T. S., M. d. C. Arizmendi, C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, C. A. Soberanes-Gonzál ...

, ''Antrostomus badius'' *

Buff-collared nightjar The buff-collared nightjar or Ridgway's whip-poor-will (''Antrostomus ridgwayi'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico.Bower ...

, ''Antrostomus ridgwayi'' *

Eastern whip-poor-will The eastern whip-poor-will (''Antrostomus vociferus'') is a medium-sized (22–27 cm; 8.7-10.6 ins.) bird within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae, from North America. The whip-poor-will is commonly heard within its range, but less o ...

, ''Antrostomus vociferus'' *

Mexican whip-poor-will The Mexican whip-poor-will, (''Antrostomus arizonae''), is a medium-sized nightjar of the southwestern United States, Mexico, and northern Central America. Taxonomy and systematics Until 2010 the Mexican whip-poor-will and what is now the ea ...

, ''Antrostomus arizonae'' *

Dusky nightjar The dusky nightjar or dusky whip-poor-will (''Antrostomus saturatus'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.Chase, J. (2020). Dusky Nightjar (''Antrostomus saturatus''), version 1.0. In Bir ...

, ''Antrostomus saturatus'' *

Puerto Rican nightjar The Puerto Rican nightjar or Puerto Rican Whip-poor-will (''Antrostomus noctitherus'') is a bird in the nightjar family found in the coastal dry scrub forests in localized areas of southwestern Puerto Rico. It was described in 1916 from bones fo ...

, ''Antrostomus noctitherus'' *

Silky-tailed nightjar The silky-tailed nightjar (''Antrostomus sericocaudatus'') is a species of nightjar birds in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland for ...

, ''Antrostomus sericocaudatus''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1573935 Bird genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte