Longclaw

{{short description|Genus of birds}}

{{Redirect|Macronyx|for the taxonomic synonym of a genus of plants|Tephrosia}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Longclaws

| image = Yellow throated Longclaw Macronyx croceus, crop.jpg

| image_caption = Yellow-throated longclaw (Macronyx croceus)

| taxon = Macronyx

| authority = Swainson, 1827

| type_species = Alauda capensis

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1766

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = 8, see text

}}

The longclaws are a genus, Macronyx, of small African passerine birds in the family Motacillidae.

Longclaws are slender, often colorful, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. They are ground nesters, laying up to four speckled eggs. They are named for their unusually long hind claws, which are thought to help walk on grass. There are only between 10,000 and 19,000 Sharpe's longclaw left in Kenya.

The genus Macronyx was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827 with the Cape longclaw as the type species.{{ cite journal | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1827 | title=On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined | journal=Zoological Journal | volume=3 | pages=343–363 [344] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2339403 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1960 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=9 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=142 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480817 }} The name combines the Classical Greek words {{Transliteration|el|makros}} "long" or "great" and {{Transliteration|el|onux}} "claw".{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/macronyx | accessdate=2 May 2018 }}