''Chenorhamphus'' 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

Australasian wren The Australasian wrens are a family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. While commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens. The family comprises 32 species (including sixteen ...

family, Maluridae.

Taxonomy and systematics

The species of the genus ''Chenorhamphus'' were formerly classified in the genus ''

Malurus ''Malurus'' is a genus of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. Taxonomy and systematics Extant species The following table reports the English names proposed for the twelve species recognised by the listing of the International Or ...

'' until a 2011 analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA showed high divergence between the two taxa resulting in them being re-split into separate species. The study also found them to lie in a separate

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

with the genera '' Sipodotus'' and ''

Clytomyias The orange-crowned fairywren (''Clytomyias insignis'') is a species of passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Clytomyias''. It is found on New Guinea in its natural habitat of subtropical or ...

'' and distinct from the genus ''Malurus''. This led to the subsequent re-classification of the species into their own genus, ''Chenorhamphus''. The genus contains two species: *

Broad-billed fairywren The broad-billed fairywren (''Chenorhamphus grayi'') is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found in northern and north-western New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Tax ...

(''Chenorhamphus grayi'') * Campbell's fairywren (''Chenorhamphus campbelli'')

References

External links

Maluridae Bird genera Taxa named by Émile Oustalet {{Maluridae-stub