Pogonornis

Pogonornis
Bearded barbet (P. dubius)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Lybiidae
Genus: Pogonornis
Billberg, 1828
Type species
Pogonornis dubius
(Gmelin, JF, 1788)
Species

5, see text

Pogonornis is a genus of African barbets from the family Lybiidae (formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae). This genus ranges across sub-Saharan Africa.

Taxonomy

The genus Pogonornis was introduced in 1828 by the Swedish naturalist Gustaf Johan Billberg as a replacement of Pogonias Illiger, 1811, which was already occupied by the fish genus Pogonias Lacépède, 1801. The genus name is from Ancient Greek πωγων/pōgōn meaning beard, and ορνις/ornis meaning bird.[1][2]

The genus Pogonornis belongs to the order Piciformes, which contains 9 families, including the woodpecker family.[3] A couple of decades ago, all barbets were thought to be of one family, but studies of mitochondrial DNA and DNA hybridization in the early 1990s have led to barbets being split into three families: Asian barbets (Megalaimidae), African barbets (Lybiidae), and American barbets (Capitonidae).[4] The family Lybiidae has a total of 43 species that occur throughout the continent of Africa from the tip of the Cape Peninsula to the fringes of the Sahara desert. Out of the 43 species in this family, Pogonornis contains 5 barbet species. It was previously included in another genus Lybius, which contains only 7 species currently.[5] The 12 species from the two genera are the most frequently encountered group of African barbets.[6]

Extant species

The genus contains 5 species:[5]

Genus Pogonornis – Billberg, 1828 – five species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Brown-breasted barbet

Pogonornis melanopterus
(Peters, 1854) 		Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, and Tanzania. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Black-backed barbet

Pogonornis minor
(Cuvier, 1816)

Two subspecies
  • P. m. minor - (Cuvier, 1816)
  • P. m. macclounii - (Shelley, 1899)
Gabon, Angola, Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Double-toothed barbet

Pogonornis bidentatus
(Shaw, 1799)

Two subspecies
  • L. b. bidentatus
  • L. b. aequatorialis
Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Bearded barbet

Pogonornis dubius
(Gmelin, JF, 1788) 		tropical west Africa Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Black-breasted barbet

Pogonornis rolleti
(De Filippi, 1853) 		Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, and Uganda. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


References

  1. ^ L. L. Short; J. F. M. Horne (2023). "Bearded Barbet (Pogonornis dubius), version 1.1". In J. del Hoyo; A. Elliott; J. Sargatal; D. A. Christie; E. de Juana (eds.). Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.beabar1.01.1.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ "Birds of Africa: Barbets." Archived 2013-12-14 at the Wayback Machine Birds of Africa: Barbets. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
  4. ^ "African Barbets." African Barbets. N.p., 7 Sept. 2004. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
  5. ^ a b International Ornithologists' Union. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela (eds.). "IOC World Bird List 14.1" (xlsx). Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  6. ^ "Africa’s Barbets." 10,000 Birds. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.