Basileuterus

These are mainly robust warblers with a stout bill. The majority of species have olive or grey upperparts and yellow underparts. The head is often strikingly marked with a long broad supercilium, a coloured crown or crown stripes, and often other striking head markings.

Many species are not well-studied, but those for which the breeding habits are known all build a domed nest on a bank or on the ground, so this is presumably typical of the genus as a whole.

Taxonomy

The genus Basileuterus was introduced in 1848 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis to accommodate a single species, Basileuterus vermivorus Cabanis. This is a junior synonym of Setophaga auricapilla Swainson, now treated as a subspecies of the golden-crowned warbler. The genus name is from an Ancient Greek bird name βασιλευτερος/basileuteros meaning "more kingly".

Formerly, the two members of the genus Phaeothlypis were sometimes included in Basileuterus.

Species

The genus contains 12 species.