''Nyctibius'' is a genus of

potoo Potoos (family (biology), family Nyctibiidae) are a group of birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They are sometimes called poor-me-ones, after their haunting bird vocalization, calls. The family Nyctibiidae was formerly included with ...

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

birds in the family

Nyctibiidae Potoos (family Nyctibiidae) are a group of birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They are sometimes called poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls. The family Nyctibiidae was formerly included with the nightjars in the order Caprimul ...

Etymology

The genus ''Nyctibius'' was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist

Louis Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected ...

to accommodate a single species, Comte de Buffon's "Le Grande Engoulevent de Cayenne", the

great potoo The great potoo or grand potoo (''Nyctibius grandis'') is the largest potoo species and is widely distributed in Central and South America. Much like owls, this species is nocturnal. It preys on large insects and small vertebrates, which it capt ...

, which thus becomes the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

. The genus name is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''nuktibios'' meaning "night-feeding", from ''nux'' night and ''bios'' "life".

Distribution

They are found throughout much of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and parts of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Taxonomy

They are one of two genera in the family, the other being the monotypic genus '' Phyllaemulor'' (containing only the

rufous potoo The rufous potoo (''Phyllaemulor bracteatus'') is a species of bird in the family Nyctibiidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Phyllaemulor''. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is ...

). Prior to 2018, they were considered the only extant genus within the Nyctibiidae; however, a study that year found a deep divergence between the rufous potoo and all other species in the genus, leading it to be described in a new genus and expanding the number of genera within the family. This was followed by the

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

in 2022. The genus ''Nyctibius'' contains six species:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q858186 Bird genera Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot