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Iridosornis

Genus of birds

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These birds live in the Andes mostly at high altitudes. Their plumage is mainly blue and all of them have contrasting patches of yellow.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Iridosornis was introduced in 1844 by the French naturalist René Lesson with the golden-crowned tanager as the type species. The genus name comes from Ancient Greek ἶρις (îris), meaning "rainbow", and ὄρνις (órnis), meaning "bird", and thus, "rainbow bird". A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that this genus had a sister relationship to the vermilion tanager which is placed in its own monospecific genus Calochaetes.

The genus contains five species:

More in Animals

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)