Longclaws
Yellow-throated longclaw (Macronyx croceus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Macronyx
Swainson, 1827
Type species
Alauda capensis
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

Many, see text

The longclaws are a genus, Macronyx, of small African passerine birds in the family Motacillidae.

Longclaws are slender, often colorful, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. They are ground nesters, laying up to four speckled eggs. They are named for their unusually long hind claws, which are thought to help in walking on grass. There are only between 10,000 and 19,000 Sharpe's longclaw left in Kenya.

The genus Macronyx was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1827 with the Cape longclaw as the type species.[1][2] The name combines the Classical Greek words makros "long" or "great" and onux "claw".[3]

Species list

The genus contains eight species:[4]

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Macronyx sharpeiSharpe's longclawwest and central Kenya.
Macronyx flavicollisAbyssinian longclawEthiopia
Macronyx fuelleborniFülleborn's longclawsouth-central Africa.
Macronyx capensisCape longclawSouthern Africa in Zimbabwe and southern and eastern South Africa.
Macronyx croceusYellow-throated longclawAngola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Macronyx aurantiigulaPangani longclawTanzania, Kenya and Somalia.
Macronyx ameliaeRosy-throated longclawAngola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Macronyx grimwoodiGrimwood's longclawAngola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.

References

  1. Swainson, William John (1827). "On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined". Zoological Journal. 3: 343–363 [344].
  2. Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 142.
  3. Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
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