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Merops (genus)

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Merops
Six common African Merops bee-eaters
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Meropidae
Genus: Merops
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Merops apiaster
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

see text

Merops is a large genus of bee-eaters, a group of birds in the family Meropidae, native to Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. The members of this family are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. They predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air.

All bee-eaters are in the genus Merops and subfamily Meropinae except for three Asiatic bearded bee-eaters in the subfamily Nyctyornithinae (in genera Nyctyornis and Meropogon). The genus Merops was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The type species is the European bee-eater.[2] The genus name is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater".[3]

Taxonomy and systematics

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Twenty-eight species are recognized:[4]

 
Bayesian consensus phylogeny based on nuclear and mitochondrial sequences of Meropidae (missing only Nyctyornis athertoni and M. revoilii)[5]
Image Common name Scientific name Distribution
Black-headed bee-eater Merops breweri Angola, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Sudan.
Blue-headed bee-eater Merops muelleri Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya
Blue-moustached bee-eater Merops mentalis Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
Black bee-eater Merops gularis from Sierra Leone to southeast Nigeria
Swallow-tailed bee-eater Merops hirundineus sub-Saharan Africa
Little bee-eater Merops pusillus Sub-Saharan Africa
Blue-breasted bee-eater Merops variegatus Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Cameroon
Ethiopian bee-eater Merops lafresnayii Eritrea; Ethiopia; South Sudan; Sudan
Cinnamon-chested bee-eater Merops oreobates Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Red-throated bee-eater Merops bulocki Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.
White-fronted bee-eater Merops bullockoides sub-equatorial Africa.
Somali bee-eater Merops revoilii Ethiopia, through Somalia to northern and eastern Kenya
White-throated bee-eater Merops albicollis southern Senegal to Uganda.
Böhm's bee-eater Merops boehmi Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.
African green bee-eater[6] Merops viridissimus sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and the Gambia to Ethiopia; the Nile Valley
Arabian green bee-eater[6] Merops cyanophrys Arabian Peninsula and the Levant
Asian green bee-eater[6] Merops orientalis Asia from coastal southern Iran east through the Indian subcontinent to Vietnam
Blue-cheeked bee-eater Merops persicus Northern Africa, and the Middle East from eastern Turkey to Kazakhstan and India
Olive bee-eater Merops superciliosus Angola; Botswana; Burundi; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Kenya; Madagascar; Malawi; Mayotte; Mozambique; Namibia; Rwanda; Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Blue-tailed bee-eater Merops philippinus southeastern Asia.
Rainbow bee-eater Merops ornatus Australia, New Guinea, and some of the southern islands of Indonesia.
Blue-throated bee-eater Merops viridis south-east Asia
Rufous-crowned bee-eater Merops americanus the Philippines
Chestnut-headed bee-eater Merops leschenaulti India east to Southeast Asia.
European bee-eater Merops apiaster southern Europe and in parts of north Africa and western Asia.
Rosy bee-eater Merops malimbicus Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo.
Northern carmine bee-eater Merops nubicus Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.
Southern carmine bee-eater Merops nubicoides KwaZulu-Natal and Namibia to Gabon, the eastern DRCongo and Kenya.

Former species

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Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Merops:

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Merops.
  1. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 117.
  2. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 233.
  3. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (August 2022). "Todies, motmots, bee-eaters". World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  5. ^ Marks, Ben D.; Weckstein, Jason D.; Moyle, Robert G. (2007). "Molecular phylogenetics of the bee-eaters (Aves: Meropidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1): 23–32. Bibcode:2007MolPE..45...23M. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.07.004. PMID 17716922.
  6. ^ a b c "Species Updates – IOC World Bird List". Retrieved 2021-06-18.
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