''Cercomacroides'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
birds in the family
Thamnophilidae
The antbirds are a large passerine bird family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 230 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire ...
.
The genus contains six species:
*
Willis's antbird (''Cercomacroides laeta'')
*
Parker's antbird (''Cercomacroides parkeri'')
*
Blackish antbird (''Cercomacroides nigrescens'')
*
Riparian antbird (''Cercomacroides fuscicauda'')
*
Dusky antbird
The dusky antbird or tyrannine antbird (''Cercomacroides tyrannina'') is a passerine bird in the antbird family. It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America from southeastern Mexico southwards to western Ecuador, and Amazonian ...
(''Cercomacroides tyrannina'')
*
Black antbird (''Cercomacroides serva'')
These species were formerly placed in the genus ''
Cercomacra''. A
molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
study published in 2014 found that ''Cercomacra'', as then defined, was
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...
.
The genus was split to create
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
genera and six species were moved to the newly erected genus ''Cercomacroides'' with the dusky antbird 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 ...
.
[
]
References
Bird genera
{{Thamnophilidae-stub