Merops (bird)

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Merops

| image = African bee-eaters composite.jpg

| image_caption = Six common African Merops bee-eaters

| taxon = Merops

| authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| type_species = Merops apiaster

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = 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.{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1| edition=10th | page=117 | publisher=Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii | language=Latin | url= https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727022 }} The type species is the European bee-eater.{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1945 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=5 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=233 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480244 }} The genus name is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n251 251]}}