''Gerygone'' (), the gerygones or peep-warblers, is a genus of
bird in the family
Acanthizidae. The genus ranges from
Southeast Asia through
New Guinea and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
to
New Zealand and the
Chatham Islands. Most of the species are found in Australia and New Guinea; only one, the
golden-bellied gerygone
The golden-bellied gerygone (''Gerygone sulphurea'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist ...
, has managed to cross
Wallace's Line
The Wallace Line or Wallace's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and named by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley that separates the biogeographical realms of Asia and Wallacea, a tran ...
and colonise as far as
Thailand,
Malaysia and the
Philippines.
Gerygones are insectivores which obtain most of their food by
gleaning and snatching in the foliage of trees and bushes. They are small, mostly weighing an average of 6–7 g, and show little variation in size across their range, except for the insular
Chatham gerygone
The Chatham gerygone or Chatham Island warbler (''Gerygone albofrontata'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to the Chatham Islands. The Chatham Island warbler is larger than and differs in plumage from the related gr ...
, which is nearly twice as large as the rest of the genus.
Their songs are described as "simple but delightful", many descending in pitch, and some species are excellent mimics. "Gerygone" means "born of sound" (Magrath 2003).
The genus contains 20 species including one which is now extinct:
*
Brown gerygone
The brown gerygone (''Gerygone mouki''), previously known as the brown warbler, is a small passerine bird native to eastern coastal Australia. The upper parts of the brown gerygone are a deep olive-grey or olive-brown, while its face and underpar ...
, ''Gerygone mouki''
*
Grey gerygone, ''Gerygone igata''
*
Norfolk gerygone
The Norfolk gerygone (''Gerygone modesta'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae.
It is endemic to Norfolk Island.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and p ...
, ''Gerygone modesta''
*†
Lord Howe gerygone
The Lord Howe gerygone or Lord Howe gerygone flyeater (''Gerygone insularis'') was a small bird in the family (biology), family Acanthizidae, brown and greyish in color. Its head was brown apart from a pale grey eye-ring and a grey throat and ch ...
, ''Gerygone insularis'' –
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
(c.1930)
*
Chatham gerygone
The Chatham gerygone or Chatham Island warbler (''Gerygone albofrontata'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to the Chatham Islands. The Chatham Island warbler is larger than and differs in plumage from the related gr ...
, ''Gerygone albofrontata''
*
Fan-tailed gerygone, ''Gerygone flavolateralis''
*
Rennell gerygone
The Rennell gerygone (''Gerygone citrina'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae.
It is found on Rennell Island. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the fan-tailed gerygone (''Gerygone flavolateralis''), but was split as a dist ...
, ''Gerygone citrina'' – split from ''G. flavolateralis''
*
Brown-breasted gerygone
The brown-breasted gerygone or treefern gerygone (''Gerygone ruficollis'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae.
It is found in the highlands of New Guinea.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest
Monta ...
, ''Gerygone ruficollis''
*
Golden-bellied gerygone
The golden-bellied gerygone (''Gerygone sulphurea'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist ...
, ''Gerygone sulphurea''
*
Rufous-sided gerygone
The rufous-sided gerygone (''Gerygone dorsalis'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae.
It is found in the eastern Lesser Sunda Islands and Kai Islands.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest
A f ...
, ''Gerygone dorsalis''
*
Mangrove gerygone, ''Gerygone levigaster''
*
Plain gerygone
The plain gerygone (''Gerygone inornata'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is found on the islands of Wetar and Timor. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical mangro ...
, ''Gerygone inornata''
*
Western gerygone
The western gerygone (''Gerygone fusca'') is a small, brownish-grey species of passerine bird, which is found in inland and Southwest Australia, south-west Australia. It is an arboreal, insectivore of open forest, woodland and dry shrubland. It ...
, ''Gerygone fusca''
*
Dusky gerygone
The dusky gerygone (''Gerygone tenebrosa'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae.
It is endemic to coastal central and northern areas of Western Australia.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forest
A fores ...
, ''Gerygone tenebrosa''
*
Large-billed gerygone, ''Gerygone magnirostris''
*
Biak gerygone
The Biak gerygone (''Gerygone hypoxantha'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to the islands of Biak and Supiori in West Papua, Indonesia.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and ...
, ''Gerygone hypoxantha'' – previous a subspecies of ''G. magnirostris''
*
Yellow-bellied gerygone
The yellow-bellied gerygone (''Gerygone chrysogaster'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae.
It is found in New Guinea.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest
A forest is an area of land dominated ...
, ''Gerygone chrysogaster''
*
Green-backed gerygone
The green-backed gerygone (''Gerygone chloronota'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae found in northern Australia and New Guinea.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest
A forest is an area of ...
, ''Gerygone chloronota''
*
White-throated gerygone
The white-throated gerygone (''Gerygone olivacea'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae.
It is found in Australia and Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), offici ...
, ''Gerygone olivacea''
*
Fairy gerygone, ''Gerygone palpebrosa''
References
* Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions.
*Keast, A. & Recher, H. (1997) "The adaptive zone of the genus ''Gerygone'' (Acanthizidae) as shown by morphology and feeding habits." ''Emu'' 97(1): 1-17
*
External links
Bird genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Acanthizidae-stub