Longclaw
| Longclaws | |
|---|---|
| File:Yellow throated Longclaw Macronyx croceus, crop.jpg | |
| Yellow-throated longclaw (Macronyx croceus) | |
| Scientific classification Edit this classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Motacillidae |
| Genus: | Macronyx Swainson, 1827 |
| Type species | |
| Alauda capensis Linnaeus, 1766
| |
| Species | |
|
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.[1][2] The name combines the Classical Greek words makros "long" or "great" and onux "claw".[3]
Species list
[edit | edit source]The genus contains eight species:[4]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:Sharpe‘sLongclaw.jpg | Macronyx sharpei | Sharpe's longclaw | west and central Kenya. |
| Macronyx flavicollis | Abyssinian longclaw | Ethiopia | |
| File:Abyssinian Longclaw - Ethiopia 2 (17000135681).jpg | Macronyx fuelleborni | Fülleborn's longclaw | south-central Africa. |
| File:Cape Longclaw (Macronyx capensis) (31320650481).jpg | Macronyx capensis | Cape longclaw | Southern Africa in Zimbabwe and southern and eastern South Africa. |
| File:Serengeti Gelbkehlpieper1.jpg | Macronyx croceus | Yellow-throated longclaw | Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
| File:Pangani Longclaw specimen RWD.jpg | Macronyx aurantiigula | Pangani longclaw | Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia. |
| File:Macronyx ameliae -East Africa-8.jpg | Macronyx ameliae | Rosy-throated longclaw | Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
| Macronyx grimwoodi | Grimwood's longclaw | Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. |
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References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Longclaw videos on the Internet Bird Collection
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