Xenicus
{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2024}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Xenicus_gilviventris.jpg
| image_caption = A South Island wren.
| taxon = Xenicus
| authority = G.R. Gray, 1855
| type_species = Motacilla longipes{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=99 |title= Acanthisittidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-24}}
| type_species_authority = Gmelin, 1789
|synonyms=Pachyplichas {{small| (Millener, 1988)}}
}}
Xenicus is a genus of birds in the family Acanthisittidae. It contains New Zealand wrens.
Species
- New Zealand rock wren, Xenicus gilviventris
- Bushwren, †Xenicus longipes (extinct)
- South Island stout-legged wren, †Xenicus yaldwyni (extinct) – South Island, New Zealand
- North Island stout-legged wren, †Xenicus jagmi (extinct) – North Island, New Zealand
Lyall's wren was classified as Xenicus lyalli but is quite divergent, so it is placed in its own genus, Traversia.
Taxonomy
The stout-legged wrens formed a species pair. They had reduced wings and robust legs indicating that they were adapted to a terrestrial existence and were either flightless or nearly so.Millener (1988). Genetic evidence has indicated that the former genus Pachyplichas is nested within Xenicus, and stout-legged wrens must have evolved from a gracile-legged ancestor. A cladogram is given below.{{Cite journal|last1=Mitchell|first1=Kieren J.|last2=Wood|first2=Jamie R.|last3=Llamas|first3=Bastien|last4=McLenachan|first4=Patricia A.|last5=Kardailsky|first5=Olga|last6=Scofield|first6=R. Paul|last7=Worthy|first7=Trevor H.|last8=Cooper|first8=Alan|date=September 2016|title=Ancient mitochondrial genomes clarify the evolutionary history of New Zealand's enigmatic acanthisittid wrens|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|language=en|volume=102|pages=295–304|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2016.05.038|pmid=27261250|bibcode=2016MolPE.102..295M }}
{{clade|{{clade
|label1=Acanthisittidae
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=Traversia
}}
|2={{clade
|label1=
|1={{clade
|1=Kuiornis
|2=Acanthisitta
}}
|label2=
|2={{clade
|3={{clade
|2=Pachyplichas
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}|style=font-size:100%;line-height:80%}}
References
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Reflist}}
- Catalogue of the genera and subgenera of birds contained in the British museum. p. 31
- [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=653221 North Island Rifleman (Titipounamu)(above two birds) / South Island Bush Wren (Matuhi) (left centre) / Rock Wren (centre right) / Stephens Island Wren] by George Edward Lodge. Collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Further reading
- {{cite journal |author= Millener, P.R.|year= 1988|title= Contributions to New Zealand's Late Quaternary avifauna. 1: Pachyplichas, a new genus of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae), with two new species|journal= Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand|volume= 18 |issue= 4|pages= 383–406 | doi = 10.1080/03036758.1988.10426464 |bibcode= 1988JRSNZ..18..383M}}
{{Passeriformes|P.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q621253|from2=Q3383499}}
Category:Taxa named by George Robert Gray
Category:Endemic birds of New Zealand
Category:Bird genera with one living species
{{Passerine-stub}}