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Dicaeum

Genus of birds

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Its members are very small, stout, often brightly coloured birds, 10 to 18 cm in length, with short tails, short, thick curved bills and tubular tongues. The latter features reflect the importance of nectar in the diet of many species, although berries, spiders and insects are also taken.

2-4 eggs are laid, typically in a purse-like nest suspended from a tree.

Taxonomy

The genus Dicaeum was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816. The name is from the Ancient Greek dikaion. Cuvier claimed that this was a word for a very small Indian bird mentioned by the Roman author Claudius Aelianus but the word probably referred instead to the scarab beetle Scarabaeus sacer. The type species was designated as the scarlet-backed flowerpecker by George Robert Gray in 1840.

The genus contains the following 44 species:

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Monotypic taxonTaxonomic group with only one subordinate taxonSpecies descriptionFormal description of a discovered speciesParaphylyType of taxonomic groupIUCN Red ListInventory of the global conservation status of biological speciesSubtropicsGeographic and climate zoneCommon nameName generally used for a taxon, group of taxa or organism(s)