Pytilia

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Pytilia

| image = Bird notes (1913) (14563402449).jpg

| image_caption = Green- and Orange-winged pytilias

| taxon = Pytilia

| authority = Swainson, 1837

| type_species = Pytilia phoenicoptera
red-winged pytilia

| type_species_authority = Swainson, 1837

}}

Pytilia is a genus of small brightly coloured seed-eating birds in the family Estrildidae. They are distributed across Africa.

Taxonomy

The genus Pytilia was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson for the red-winged pytilia.{{ cite book | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1837 | title=The Natural History of the Birds of Western Africa | volume=1 | location=Edinburgh | publisher=W.H. Lizars | page=203 | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_FAwAAAAAQAAJ/page/n270/mode/1up }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1968 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=14 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=312 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481513 }} The name Pytilia is a diminutive of the genus Pitylus that had been introduced in 1829 by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier for the grosbeaks.{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=327 }} A molecular phylogenetic study has shown that the genus is basal to a clade containing the twinspots in the genera Euschistospiza, Hypargos and Clytospiza and the firefinches in Lagonosticta.{{Cite journal | last1=Olsson | first1=Urban | last2=Alström | first2=Per | author2-link=Alström | date=2020 | title=A comprehensive phylogeny and taxonomic evaluation of the waxbills (Aves: Estrildidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=146 | pages=106757 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106757| doi-access=free | pmid=32028027 | bibcode=2020MolPE.14606757O }}

=Species=

The genus contains five species:{{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 Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waxbills/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=13 July 2021 }}

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
class="wikitable"
	Orange-winged pytilia	Pytilia afra	Angola, Botswana, Burundi, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
	Red-winged pytilia	Pytilia phoenicoptera	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Uganda
	Red-billed pytilia	Pytilia lineata	Ethiopia
120px	Green-winged pytilia	Pytilia melba	Sub-Saharan Africa
120px	Yellow-winged pytilia	Pytilia hypogrammica	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo

References

Category:Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa

Category:Taxa named by William Swainson