''Estrilda'' 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 ...

estrildid finch Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. Despite the word "fi ...

in the family

Estrildidae Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. Despite the word "fi ...

. Most of the genus is found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

with one species, the Arabian waxbill, ranging into

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. Some species are kept as pets and have been accidentally introduced to various parts of the world.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Estrilda'' was introduced in 1827 by the English naturalist William John Swainson with the

common waxbill The common waxbill (''Estrilda astrild''), also known as the St Helena waxbill, is a small passerine bird belonging to the estrildid finch family. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa but has been introduced to many other regions of the world and ...

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 name of the genus is from ''astrild'', the specific epithet of the common waxbill that was introduced by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1758.

Species

The genus contains 12 species: The genus formerly contained other species with "waxbill" in their common name that are now placed in the genera '' Coccopygia'', ''

Brunhilda Brunhilda may refer to: * Brunhild, a figure in Germanic heroic legend * Brunhilda of Austrasia (c. 543–613), Frankish queen * ''Brunhilda'' (bird), a genus of birds See also * * * Broom-Hilda, an American newspaper comic strip * Broomhild ...

'' and '' Glaucestrilda''.

References

Waxbills Bird genera Estrildidae Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Estrildidae-stub