''Lyncornis'' is a genus of

eared nightjar The eared nightjars are a small group of nocturnal birds in the nightjar family, although the taxonomy is uncertain. There are seven species, mainly found in forest and scrub from China to Australia. 5 species are placed in the genus, ''Eurostop ...

in the family Caprimulgidae.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Lyncornis'' was introduced in 1838 by the English ornithologist

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...

with ''Lyncornis cerviniceps'' Gould 1838 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 ...

. This taxon is now treated as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

great eared nightjar The great eared nightjar (''Lyncornis macrotis'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in southwest India and in parts of Southeast Asia. This very large nightjar has long barred wings, a barred tail and long ear-tuft ...

. The genus 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 peri ...

''lunx'', ''lunkos'' meaning "lynx" with ''ornis'' meaning "bird.

Species

The genus contains two species: These two species were formerly placed in the genus ''

Eurostopodus ''Eurostopodus'' is a genus of eared nightjar The eared nightjars are a small group of nocturnal birds in the nightjar family, although the taxonomy is uncertain. There are seven species, mainly found in forest and scrub from China to Austra ...

''. They were moved to the resurrected genus ''Lyncornis'' based on the results of 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 2010 that found large genetic differences between the great eared nightjar and the other species in ''Eurostopodus''.

References

Bird genera {{caprimulgiformes-stub