''Poodytes'' 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 birds in the grassbird family

Locustellidae Locustellidae is a newly recognized family of small insectivorous songbirds ("warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" family. It contains the grass warblers, grassbirds, and the ''Bradypterus'' "bush warblers". These bird ...

. 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 of the grassbird family

published in 2018 found that some of the genera, as then defined, were non-

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 ...

. In the resulting rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, five species were moved from '' Megalurus'' to the resurrected genus ''Poodytes''. The genus had been introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. Cabanis was born in Berlin to an old Huguenot family who had moved from France. Little is known of his early life. He studied at the University of Berlin from 18 ...

to accommodate the

little grassbird The little grassbird (''Poodytes gramineus'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in Australia and in West Papua, Indonesia. These sexually monomorphic birds are found in reed beds, rushes, lignum swamps an ...

which is therefore 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 ...

. 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 ...

''poa'' meaning "grass" with ''dutēs'' meaning "diver". The genus contains the following species: *

Fly River grassbird The Fly River grassbird (''Poodytes albolimbatus'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are freshwater marshes and lakes. It is threatened by habitat ...

(''Poodytes albolimbatus'') *

Spinifexbird The spinifexbird (''Poodytes carteri'') is endemic to inland Australia. Also known as Carter's desertbird, it is named after Thomas Carter, an English ornithologist and pastoralist active in Western Australia from 1887 to 1928. Description It h ...

(''Poodytes carteri'') * †

Chatham fernbird The Chatham fernbird (''Poodytes rufescens'') is an extinct bird species that was endemic to the Chatham Islands. It was historically known only from Mangere Island, but fossils have been found on Pitt Island and Chatham Island as well. Its close ...

(''Poodytes rufescens'') *

New Zealand fernbird The New Zealand fernbird or simply fernbird (''Poodytes punctatus'') is an insectivorous bird endemic to New Zealand. In the Māori language, it is named or . Taxonomy The New Zealand fernbird was described by the French zoologists Jean Quoy ...

(''Poodytes punctatus'') *

Little grassbird The little grassbird (''Poodytes gramineus'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in Australia and in West Papua, Indonesia. These sexually monomorphic birds are found in reed beds, rushes, lignum swamps an ...

(''Poodytes gramineus'')

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q22954484 Bird genera