Nectarinia is a genus of birds in the sunbird family, Nectariniidae. What species belong to it has been highly contentious for many decades. Towards the late 20th century, the dominant trend was to use it to group all "typical" sunbirds. More recently taxonomists have divided the Nectarinia into eight genera which are now considered distinct from Nectarinia: Leptocoma, Anabathmis, Chalcomitra, Cinnyris, Cyanomitra, Dreptes, Anthobaphes, and Drepanorhynchus.
Taxonomy The genus Nectarinia was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The type species was designated as Certhia famosa Linnaeus, 1766 by George Gray in 1840.
Species The genus now contains six species:
Image Common name Scientific name Distribution Bocage's sunbird Nectarinia bocagii Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo Purple-breasted sunbird Nectarinia purpureiventris Albertine Rift montane forests Tacazze sunbird Nectarinia tacazze Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Bronze sunbird Nectarinia kilimensis Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia Malachite sunbird Nectarinia famosa Ethiopia southwards to South Africa Scarlet-tufted sunbird Nectarinia johnstoni Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
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