Zimmerius Explained

Zimmerius is a genus of Neotropical birds in the family Tyrannidae.

The genus was erected by the American ornithologist Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. in 1977 with the golden-faced tyrannulet (Zimmerius chrysops) as the type species.^[1] The name Zimmerius was chosen to honour the American ornithologist John Todd Zimmer (1889-1957) who specialised in the classification of Neotropical birds.^[2]

Species

The genus contains 15 species:^[3]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Zimmerius parvus	southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and southern Belize.
		Zimmerius improbus	northeast Colombia and northwest Venezuela
		Zimmerius petersi	Venezuela
		Zimmerius bolivianus	Bolivia and Peru.
		Zimmerius cinereicapilla	Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru
		Zimmerius villarejoi	northeastern Peru.
		Zimmerius chicomendesi	Brazil.
		Zimmerius gracilipes	Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
		Zimmerius acer	east Amazon Basin and northeastern Brazil.
		Zimmerius chrysops	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
		Zimmerius minimus	Colombia and Venezuela.
		Zimmerius albigularis	western Colombia and western Ecuador
		Zimmerius flavidifrons	southwestern Ecuador.
		Zimmerius viridiflavus	southern Ecuador.

Further reading

• Rheindt . F.E. . Norman . J.A. . Christidis . L. . 2008 . DNA evidence shows vocalizations to be better indicator of taxonomic limits than plumage patterns in Zimmerius tyrant-flycatchers . Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics . 48 . 1 . 150–156 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2008.04.016 . 18495499. 2008MolPE..48..150R .
• Rheindt . F.E. . Cuervo . A.M. . Brumfield . R.T. . 2013 . Rampant polyphyly indicates cryptic diversity in a clade of Neotropical flycatchers (Aves: Tyrannidae) . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society . 108 . 4 . 889–900 . 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2012.02036.x. free .

Notes and References

1. Traylor . Melvin Alvah Jr. . Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. . 1977 . A classification of tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) . Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology . 148 . 4 . 129–184 [147] .
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 414 .
3. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2017 . Cotingas, manakins, tityras & becards . World Bird List Version 7.3 . International Ornithologists' Union . 9 January 2018 .