Pipits
| Pipits | |
|---|---|
_18-Apr-2007_12-12-32_PM.JPG) |
|
| Nilgiri pipit | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Motacillidae |
| Genus: |
Anthus Bechstein, 1805 |
| Species | |
|
see text. |
|
see text.
The pipits are a cosmopolitan genus, Anthus, of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family Motacillidae. The genus is widespread, occurring across most of the world, except the driest deserts, rainforests and the mainland of Antarctica.
They are slender, often drab, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. Like their relatives in the family, the pipits are monogamous and territorial. Pipits are ground nesters, laying up to six speckled eggs.
The genus name Anthus is the Latin name for a small bird of grasslands.
Molecular studies of the pipits suggested that the genus arose in East Asia around seven million years ago (mya), during the Miocene, and that the genus had spread to the Americas, Africa and Europe between 5 and 6 mya. Speciation rates were high during the Pliocene (5.3 to 2.6 mya ) but have slowed down so during the . Repeated dispersal between continents seems to have been important in generating new species in Eurasia, Africa and North America, rather than species arising by radiation once a continent was reached. In South America, however, vicariance appears to have played an important role in speciation.
The genus has more than forty species, making it the largest genus in terms of numbers in its family. The exact species limits of the genus are still a matter of some debate, with some checklists recognising only 34 species. For example, the Australasian pipit, Anthus novaeseelandiae, which is currently treated as nine subspecies found in New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea, once also included the Richard's pipit and paddyfield pipit of Asia, and the African pipit of Africa. In addition it has been suggested that the Australian and New Zealand populations be split, or even that New Zealand's subspecies found on its outlying Subantarctic Islands be split from the mainland species. In part the taxonomic difficulties arise due to the extreme similarities in appearance across the genus.
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Wikipedia