Poecile is a genus of birds in the tit family Paridae. It contains 15 species, which are scattered across North America, Europe and Asia; the North American species are the chickadees. In the past, most authorities retained Poecile as a subgenus within the genus Parus, but treatment as a distinct genus, initiated by the American Ornithologists Union, is now widely accepted.[1] This is supported by mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis.[2]
The genus Poecile was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829.[3] The type species was subsequently designated as the marsh tit (Poecile palustris) by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1842.[4] [5] The name Poecile is from Ancient Greek poikilos "colourful". A related word poikilidos denoted an unidentified small bird.[6] It has traditionally been treated as feminine (giving name endings such as cincta); however, this was not specified by the original genus author Johann Jakob Kaup, and under the ICZN the genus name must therefore be treated by default as masculine, giving name endings such as cinctus.[1]
The genus includes the following fifteen species:[7]
| Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poecile superciliosus | central China and Tibet. | ||
| Poecile lugubris | southeast Europe and southwest Asia | ||
| Grey-headed chickadee (North American name) or Siberian tit (European name) | Poecile cinctus | subarctic Scandinavia and northern Asia, and also into North America in Alaska and the far northwest of Canada | |
| Poecile rufescens | Pacific Northwest of the United States and western Canada, from southern Alaska to southwestern California | ||
| Poecile hudsonicus | Canada, Alaska, and northernmost portions of the lower 48 United States | ||
| Poecile sclateri | Mexico | ||
| Poecile carolinensis | United States from New Jersey west to southern Kansas and south to Florida and Texas | ||
| Poecile atricapillus | Across North America, from New England to Newfoundland in the east, and from Washington to Alaska in the west | ||
| Poecile gambeli | western United States | ||
| Poecile davidi | central China in southern Gansu, western Hubei, southern Shaanxi and Sichuan | ||
| Poecile hypermelaenus | central and eastern China to southeast Tibet and western Myanmar. | ||
| Poecile palustris | temperate Europe and northern Asia | ||
| Poecile weigoldicus | central China | ||
| Poecile hyrcanus | northern Iran, just extending into Azerbaijan. | ||
| Poecile montanus | temperate and subarctic Europe and northern Asia | ||