Pytilia 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 small brightly coloured seed-eating birds 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 ...

. They are distributed across Africa.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Pytilia'' was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist

William John Swainson William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...

for the

red-winged pytilia The red-winged pytilia (''Pytilia phoenicoptera'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 370,000 km2. It is found at Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republi ...

. The name ''Pytilia'' is a diminutive of the genus ''Pitylus'' that had been introduced in 1829 by the French naturalist

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...

for the

grosbeak Grosbeak is a form taxon containing various species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of dist ...

s. 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 has shown that the genus is basal to a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

containing the twinspots in the genera ''

Euschistospiza ''Euschistospiza'' is a genus of birds in the family Estrildidae, found in Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa ...

'', '' Hypargos'' and ''

Clytospiza The brown twinspot (''Clytospiza monteiri'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only member of the genus ''Clytospiza''. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of ...

'' and the firefinches in ''

Lagonosticta The firefinches form a genus, ''Lagonosticta'', of small seed-eating African birds in the family Estrildidae. The genus was introduced by the German ornithologists Jean Cabanis in 1851. The type species was subsequently designated as the Africa ...

''.

Species

The genus contains five species:

References

{{Estrildidae-stub