''Prionochilus'' is one of two

genera 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 nomenclat ...

flowerpecker that make up the family

Dicaeidae The flowerpeckers are a family, Dicaeidae, of passerine birds. The family comprises two genera, ''Prionochilus'' and ''Dicaeum'', with 50 species in total. The family has sometimes been included in an enlarged sunbird family Nectariniidae. The b ...

. The genus differs from the other flowerpecker genus, ''

Dicaeum '' Dicaeum '' is a genus of birds in the flowerpecker family Dicaeidae, a group of passerines tropical southern Asia and Australasia from India east to the Philippines and south to Australia. The genus ''Dicaeum'' is closely related to the gen ...

'' in having ten long

primary feathers Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

in the wing and in the character of its calls. A study comparing the calls of the two genera suggested that ''Prionochilus'' is basal to ''Dicaeum''. The genus contains six species, in contrast to the 44 species in the genus ''Dicaeum''. They have a more restricted distribution than ''Dicaeum'', occurring in the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the Malay Peninsula. The name ''Prionochilus'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''prion'' for saw, and ''kheilos'' for lip, referring to the minute serrations along the edge of the

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

. In common with the other flowerpeckers, the ''Prionochilus'' flowerpeckers are small birds, between 9–10 cm in length and weighing 7-23 g. The bill of all the six species is deep, broad and short. In terms of

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

the genus is fairly variable. Four of the six species exhibit

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

with regards to plumage, with the males in these cases being more brightly coloured. In four of the six species at least one of the sexes have a white malar stripe on the throat, and all but one of the species has an orange or red patch on the crown. Like all members of the family the fruits, nectar and pollen of

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

(

Loranthaceae Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are ''Nuytsia floribunda'' (the W ...

) are important to the ''Prionochilus'' flowerpeckers. In addition, other fruits are taken. Smaller fruits are consumed whole, or squeezed until skin is removed and discarded, then swallowed, whereas larger fruits are pierced with the bill and chunks removed and swallowed. In addition to plant material insects and spiders are eaten as well. Information about the diet (and many other aspects of the biology of this genus and indeed family) is patchy and more research is needed.

Species

* Yellow-breasted flowerpecker (''Prionochilus maculatus'') * Olive-backed flowerpecker (''Prionochilus olivaceus'') * Crimson-breasted flowerpecker (''Prionochilus percussus'') * Palawan flowerpecker (''Prionochilus plateni'') *

Scarlet-breasted flowerpecker The scarlet-breasted flowerpecker (''Prionochilus thoracicus'') is a species of bird in the family Dicaeidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subt ...

(''Prionochilus thoracicus'') * Yellow-rumped flowerpecker (''Prionochilus xanthopygius'')

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q612893 Dicaeidae Bird genera Taxa named by Hugh Edwin Strickland Taxonomy articles created by Polbot