Dicaeum is a genus of birds in the flowerpecker family Dicaeidae, a group of passerines tropical southern Asia and Australasia from India east to the Philippines and south to Australia. Within the family Dicaeidae the genus Dicaeum is sister to a clade containing the genera Prionochilus and Pachyglossa.
Its members are very small, stout, often brightly coloured birds, 10 to 18 cm in length, with short tails, short, thick curved bills and tubular tongues. The latter features reflect the importance of nectar in the diet of many species, although berries, spiders and insects are also taken.
2-4 eggs are laid, typically in a purse-like nest suspended from a tree.
Taxonomy The genus Dicaeum was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816. The volume has the year 1817 printed on the title page but was published in 1816. See: The name is from the Ancient Greek dikaion. Cuvier claimed that this was a word for a very small Indian bird mentioned by the Roman author Claudius Aelianus but the word probably referred instead to the scarab beetle Scarabaeus sacer. The type species was designated as the scarlet-backed flowerpecker by George Robert Gray in 1840.
The genus contains the following 44 species:
Image Scientific name Common name Distribution - Spectacled flowerpecker Dicaeum dayakorum Borneo - Golden-rumped flowerpecker Dicaeum annae Lesser Sundas Yellow-sided flowerpecker Dicaeum aureolimbatum Sulawesi Olive-capped flowerpecker Dicaeum nigrilore montane Mindanao Yellow-crowned flowerpecker Dicaeum anthonyi montane northern Luzon Flame-crowned flowerpecker Dicaeum kampalili montane Mindanao Bicolored flowerpecker Dicaeum bicolor Philippines Red-keeled flowerpecker Dicaeum australe Philippines Black-belted flowerpecker Dicaeum haematostictum Western Visayas Scarlet-collared flowerpecker Dicaeum retrocinctum Mindoro - Cebu flowerpecker Dicaeum quadricolor Cebu Orange-bellied flowerpecker Dicaeum trigonostigma Southeast Asia - Buzzing flowerpecker Dicaeum hypoleucum Philippines Pale-billed flowerpecker Dicaeum erythrorhynchos South Asia Nilgiri flowerpecker Dicaeum concolor Western Ghats Plain flowerpecker Dicaeum minullum Northeast India, southern China and Southeast Asia - Andaman flowerpecker Dicaeum virescens Andaman Islands Pygmy flowerpecker Dicaeum pygmaeum Philippines - Crimson-crowned flowerpecker Dicaeum nehrkorni montane Sulawesi - Buru flowerpecker Dicaeum erythrothorax Buru - Halmahera flowerpecker Dicaeum schistaceiceps northern Moluccas - Ashy flowerpecker Dicaeum vulneratum east-central Moluccas Olive-crowned flowerpecker Dicaeum pectorale Raja Ampat Islands and northwest New-Guinea - Red-capped flowerpecker Dicaeum geelvinkianum New Guinea and satellites - Louisiade flowerpecker Dicaeum nitidum Louisiade archipelago - Red-banded flowerpecker Dicaeum eximium eastern Bismarck archipelago - Midget flowerpecker Dicaeum aeneum Solomon Islands - Mottled flowerpecker Dicaeum tristrami Makira - Black-fronted flowerpecker Dicaeum igniferum Lesser Sundas - Red-chested flowerpecker Dicaeum maugei Selayar Islands and eastern Lesser Sundas - Pink-breasted flowerpecker Dicaeum keiense southern Moluccas Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum Aru Islands and Australia - Grey-sided flowerpecker Dicaeum celebicum Sulawesi - Black-sided flowerpecker Dicaeum monticolum montane Borneo Fire-breasted flowerpecker Dicaeum ignipectus Himalayas, southern China, Taiwan and Indochina - Cambodian flowerpecker Dicaeum cambodianum eastern Thailand and Cambodia - Sumatran flowerpecker Dicaeum beccarii Bukit Barisan - Fire-throated flowerpecker Dicaeum luzoniense Philippines - Javan flowerpecker Dicaeum sanguinolentum montane Java and Bali - Flores flowerpecker Dicaeum rhodopygiale Flores - Sumba flowerpecker Dicaeum wilhelminae Sumba - Timor flowerpecker Dicaeum hanieli Timor Scarlet-backed flowerpecker Dicaeum cruentatum southern China and Southeast Asia Scarlet-headed flowerpecker Dicaeum trochileum Bangka Island, southern Sumatra/Borneo and Java
References
External links
Flowerpecker videos and photographs