Gerygone

Large-billed gerygone Gerygone magnirostris, photographed by Lip Kee Yap.

Belongs within: Acanthizidae.

Gerygone is a genus of small insectivorous birds found in Australasia and south-east Asia. Most species feed by gleaning prey in the middle to upper canopies. The brown warbler G. mouki of south-eastern Australia and grey warbler G. igata of New Zealand may feed among lower vegetation than other species, with the grey warbler also feeding at ground level.

See also: Riroriro.

Characters (from Schodde & Mason 1999): Foreheads and faces usually plain; lores usually dusky with whitish supra-loral bars and orbital rings; songs sibilant, chromatic; nests pendulent, tailed, not communal.

<==Gerygone Gould in Grey 1841 (see below for synonymy) CC10
    |--+--G. chrysogaster BKB15
    |  `--G. mouki JT12
    |       |--G. m. mouki M03
    |       |--G. m. amalia M03
    |       `--G. m. richmondi M03
    `--+--G. magnirostris Gould 1843 BKB15, CC10 [=*Ethelornis magnirostris CC10]
       |    |--G. m. magnirostris M03
       |    |--G. m. brunneipectus M03
       |    `--G. m. cairnsensis M03
       `--+--+--G. igata (Quoy & Gaimard in Dumont d’Urville 1830) BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
          |  `--+--G. fusca (Gould 1838) BKB15, WS48 [=Psilopus fusca CC10, *Wilsonavis fusca CC10]
          |     |    |--G. f. fusca WS48
          |     |    |--G. f. culicivora (Gould 1840) WS48 (see below for synonymy)
          |     |    `--G. f. exsul M03
          |     `--G. levigaster Gould 1842 BKB15, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
          |          |--G. l. levigaster M03
          |          `--G. l. cantator M03
          `--+--G. olivacea (Gould 1838) BKB15, WS48 [=Psilopus olivaceus WS48]
             |    |--G. o. olivacea WS48
             |    |--G. o. cinerascens M03
             |    `--G. o. rogersi Mathews 1911 [=G. albigularis rogersi] WS48
             `--+--G. chloronota Gould 1842 BKB15, WS48 [incl. G. chloronotus darwini Mathews 1912 WS48]
                `--G. palpebrosa JT12
                     |--G. p. palpebrosa M03
                     `--G. p. flavida M03

Gerygone incertae sedis:
  *G. albogularis [=*Psilopus albogularis, *Ostiarius albogularis] CC10
  G. albofrontata Gray 1845 (see below for synonymy) CC10
  G. cinerea JT12
  G. dorsalis JT12
  G. flavolateralis JT12
    |--G. f. flavolateralis S13
    `--'Pseudogerygone’ f. lifuensis Sarasin 1913 S13
  G. hypoxantha JT12
  G. inornata JT12
  G. insularis [=G. igata insularis] CC10
  G. modesta Pelzeln 1860 (see below for synonymy) CC10
  G. personata Gould 1866 G66 [=G. palpebrosa personata M03, *Pseudogerygone personata CC10]
  ‘Pseudogerygone’ rouxi Sarasin 1913 S13
  G. ruficollis JT12
  G. sulphurea JT12
  G. tenebrosa (Hall 1901) JT12, WS48 (see below for synonymy)

Gerygone Gould in Grey 1841 [=Ostiarius Gistel 1848, Psilopus Gould 1838 non Poli 1795; incl. Ethelornis Mathews 1912, Hapolorhynchus Reichenow 1908, Maorigerygone Mathews & Iredale 1913, Pseudogerygone Sharpe 1879, Royigerygone Mathews 1912, Wilsonavis Mathews 1912; Gerygoninae] CC10

Gerygone albofrontata Gray 1845 [=Acanthiza albofrontata, *Hapolorhynchus albofrontatus, Pseudogerygone albofrontata] CC10

Gerygone fusca culicivora (Gould 1840) WS48 [=Psilopus culicivorus WS48; incl. G. culicivora dendyi Mathews 1912 WS48, G. levigaster mungi Mathews 1912 WS48, G. fusca mungi M03, G. culicivora wayensis Mathews 1912 WS48]

Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard in Dumont d’Urville 1830) BKB15, CC10 [=Curruca igata CC10, Acanthiza igata CC10, *Maorigerygone igata CC10, Pseudogerygone igata CC10, Psilopus igata CC10; incl. Gerygone assimilis Buller 1865 CC10, G. aucklandica Pelzeln 1865 CC10, Psilopus flaviventris Gray 1844 CC10, Acanthiza flaviventris CC10, Gerygone flaviventris CC10, Maorigerygone igata flaviventris CC10, Pseudogerygone flaviventris CC10, Pse. macleani Ogilvie-Grant 1907 CC10, Maorigerygone igata macleani CC10, Gerygone sylvestris Potts 1873 CC10, M. igata sylvestris CC10, Pseudogerygone sylvestris CC10]

Gerygone levigaster Gould 1842 BKB15, WS48 [incl. G. levigaster broomei Mathews 1912 WS48, Ethelornis levigaster perconfusus Mathews 1920 WS48]

Gerygone modesta Pelzeln 1860 [=G. igata modesta, Pseudogerygone modesta, Royigerygone modesta, G. mathewsae Mathews 1912, *R. mathewsae] CC10

Gerygone tenebrosa (Hall 1901) JT12, WS48 [=Pseudogerygone tenebrosa WS48, G. magnirostris tenebrosa WS48; incl. G. tenebrosa christopheri Mathews 1912 WS48, G. magnirostris whitlocki Mathews 1915 WS48, G. tenebrosa whitlocki M03]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[G66] Gould, J. 1866. Additions to the list of the avifauna of Australia, with descriptions of three new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 217–218.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[M03] Morcombe, M. 2003. Field Guide to Australian Birds 2^nd ed. Steve Parish Publishing.

[S13] Sarasin, F. 1913. Die Vögel Neu-Caledoniens und der Loyalty-Inseln. In: Sarasin, F., & J. Roux (eds) Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1 pt 1 pp. 1–78, pls 1–3. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.

[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.

Last updated: 26 July 2019.