Geositta
{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Slender-billed Miner (Geositta tenuirostris) from side.jpg
| image_caption = Slender-billed miner (Geositta tenuirostris)
| taxon = Geositta
| authority = Swainson, 1837
| type_species = Geositta anthoides
| type_species_authority = Swainson, 1838
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
11, see text
}}
Geositta is a genus of passerine birds in the ovenbird family, Furnariidae. They are known as miners (not to be confused with the unrelated miners, Manorina, of Australia) due to the tunnels they dig for nesting. There are 11 species including the campo miner (Geositta poeciloptera) which was formerly classified in a genus of its own, Geobates. They inhabit open country in South America, particularly the Andean and Patagonian regions. They are ground-dwelling birds, somewhat resembling the larks and wheatears of other continents. They are mostly drab brown in coloration and often have a fairly long and slender bill.{{ cite book | last1=Ridgely | first1=Robert S. | last2=Tudor | first2=Guy | year=2009 | title=Birds of South America: Passerines | series=Helm Field Guides | location=London | publisher=Christopher Helm | isbn=978-1-408-11342-4 | pages=263-265 }}
Taxonomy
The genus Geositta was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson to accommodate a single species, Geositta anthoides which is therefore the type species by monotypy.{{ cite book | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1837 | title=On the Natural History and Classification of Birds | volume=2 | location=London | publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman and John Taylor | pages=317-318, Fig. 283 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41945095 }} Swainson formally described the type species in the following year in his Animals in Menageries.{{ cite book | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1838 | title=Animals in Menageries | series=The Cabinet Cyclopedia | location=London | publisher=Longman, Orne, Brown, Green, Longmans and Taylor | page=323, No. 129 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28995034 }} The name Geositta anthoides is considered as a junior synonym of Alauda fissirostris which had been described in 1835 by the German naturalist Heinrich von Kittlitz.{{ cite journal | last=Kittlitz | first=Heinrich von | author-link=Heinrich von Kittlitz | year=1835 | title=Über einige vögel von Chili, beobachtet im März und anfang April 1827 | language=German | journal=Mémoire Présentés à L'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint Pétersbourg par Divers Savans et dans ses Assemblées | pages=464-472 [468] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37113528 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Dickinson | editor1-first=E.C. | editor1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | editor2-last=Christidis | editor2-first=L. | editor2-link=Leslie Christidis | year=2014 | title=The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World | volume=2: Passerines | edition=4th | location=Eastbourne, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-2-2 | page=107 }} The taxon is now treated as a subspecies of the common miner with the trinomial name Geositta cunicularia fissirostris.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Ovenbirds, woodcreepers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/ovenbirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=20 December 2024 }} The genus name Geositta combines the Ancient Greek γεω-/geō- meaning "ground-" or "earth-" with the genus Sitta that had been introduced for the Eurasian nuthatch in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus.{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=Geositta | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=Geositta | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=20 December 2024 }}
The following cladogram showing the relationship between the species is based on a large molecular phylogenetic study of the suboscines by Michael Harvey and collaborators that was published in 2020.{{Cite journal | last1=Harvey | first1=M.G. | display-authors=etal | date=2020 | title=The evolution of a tropical biodiversity hotspot | journal=Science | volume=370 | issue=6522 | pages=1343-1348 | doi=10.1126/science.aaz6970 | hdl=10138/329703 | hdl-access=free }} A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website [http://www.harveybirdlab.org/docs/Harveyetal2020_Fig1_tree_HiRes.pdf here].
{{Clade | style=font-size:90%;line-height:90%
|label1=Geositta
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=Coastal miner – Geositta peruviana
|2={{clade
|1=Slender-billed miner – Geositta tenuirostris
|2={{clade
|1=Common miner – Geositta cunicularia
|2=Puna miner – Geositta punensis
}}
}}
}}
|2={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=Campo miner – Geositta poeciloptera
|2={{clade
|1=Thick-billed miner – Geositta crassirostris
|2=Rufous-banded miner – Geositta rufipennis
}}
}}
|2={{clade
|1=Greyish miner – Geositta maritima
|2={{clade
|1=Dark-winged miner – Geositta saxicolina
|2={{clade
|1=Short-billed miner – Geositta antarctica
|2=Creamy-rumped miner – Geositta isabellina
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
Species list
The genus contains 11 species:
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120px | Geositta peruviana | Coastal miner | Peru |
| 120px | Geositta cunicularia | Common miner | Puna grassland, coastal Peru and Chile ; Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and South Region (Brazil) |
| 120px | Geositta tenuirostris | Slender-billed miner | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru |
| 120px | Geositta antarctica | Short-billed miner | Santa Cruz Province and Tierra del Fuego |
| 120px | Geositta isabellina | Creamy-rumped miner | Argentina and Chile |
| 120px | Geositta saxicolina | Dark-winged miner | Peru |
| 120px | Geositta maritima | Greyish miner | Chile and Peru |
| 120px | Geositta punensis | Puna miner | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru |
| 120px | Geositta rufipennis | Rufous-banded miner | Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile |
| 120px | Geositta poeciloptera | Campo miner | Brazil and far northeastern Bolivia |
| 120px | Geositta crassirostris | Thick-billed miner | Peru |
References
{{reflist}}
{{Passeriformes|T.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q256033}}
Category:Taxa named by William Swainson
{{Furnariidae-stub}}