Dicaeum
Genus of birds
title: "Dicaeum" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["dicaeum", "dicaeidae", "bird-genera", "taxa-named-by-georges-cuvier"] description: "Genus of birds" topic_path: "general/dicaeum" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicaeum" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of birds ::
| name = Dicaeum | image = Dicaeum concolor.jpg | image_caption = Nilgiri flycatcher (Dicaeum concolor) | taxon = Dicaeum | authority = Cuvier, 1816 | type_species = Certhia erythronotus = Certhia cruentata | type_species_authority = Latham, 1790 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = see text ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Pale-billed_Flowerpecker_(Dicaeum_erythrorhynchos)with_a_Muntingia_calabura(Singapur_cherry)_fruit_W2_IMG_8494.jpg" caption="Pale-billed flowerpecker ''[[Dicaeum erythrorhynchos]]'' with a ''[[Muntingia calabura]]'' berry ([[Hyderabad, India]])"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Thick-billed_Flowerpecker_(Dicaeum_agile)_on_Helicteres_isora_W2_IMG_1379.jpg" caption="Thick-billed flowerpecker ''[[Dicaeum agile]]'' on ''[[Helicteres isora]]''"] ::
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 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:
::data[format=table]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | Spectacled flowerpecker | Dicaeum dayakorum | Borneo |
| - | Golden-rumped flowerpecker | Dicaeum annae | Lesser Sundas |
| [[File:Dicaeum aureolimbatum aureolimbatum.JPG | 125px]] | Yellow-sided flowerpecker | Dicaeum aureolimbatum |
| [[File:Olive-capped Flowerpecker.jpg | 125px]] | Olive-capped flowerpecker | Dicaeum nigrilore |
| [[File:Dicaeum anthonyi.jpg | 125px]] | Yellow-crowned flowerpecker | Dicaeum anthonyi |
| [[File:Flame-crowned Flowerpecker.jpg | 125px]] | Flame-crowned flowerpecker | Dicaeum kampalili |
| [[File:Bicolored Flowerpecker.jpg | 125px]] | Bicolored flowerpecker | Dicaeum bicolor |
| [[File:Dicaeum australe 27099483.jpg | 125px]] | Red-keeled flowerpecker | Dicaeum australe |
| [[File:Black-belted Flowerpecker.png | 125px]] | Black-belted flowerpecker | Dicaeum haematostictum |
| [[File:Scarlet-collared Flowerpecker.jpg | 125px]] | Scarlet-collared flowerpecker | Dicaeum retrocinctum |
| - | Cebu flowerpecker | Dicaeum quadricolor | Cebu |
| [[File:0A2A5774 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker.jpg | 125px]] | Orange-bellied flowerpecker | Dicaeum trigonostigma |
| - | Buzzing flowerpecker | Dicaeum hypoleucum | Philippines |
| [[File:Tickels-FlowerPecker3.jpg | 125px]] | Pale-billed flowerpecker | Dicaeum erythrorhynchos |
| [[File:Dicaeum concolor 1.jpg | 125px]] | Nilgiri flowerpecker | Dicaeum concolor |
| [[File:Plain-Flowerpecker.jpg | 125px]] | Plain flowerpecker | Dicaeum minullum |
| - | Andaman flowerpecker | Dicaeum virescens | Andaman Islands |
| [[File:Pygmy Flowerpecker2.jpg | 125px]] | Pygmy flowerpecker | Dicaeum pygmaeum |
| - | 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 |
| [[File:Dicaeum pectorale 335125520.jpg | 125px]] | Olive-crowned flowerpecker | Dicaeum pectorale |
| - | 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 |
| [[File:Mistletoebird - Round Hill Nature Reserve.jpg | 125px]] | Mistletoebird | Dicaeum hirundinaceum |
| - | Grey-sided flowerpecker | Dicaeum celebicum | Sulawesi |
| - | Black-sided flowerpecker | Dicaeum monticolum | montane Borneo |
| [[File:Fire-breasted Flowerpecker Khangchendzonga National Park West Sikkim Sikkim India 29.10.2015.jpg | 125px]] | Fire-breasted flowerpecker | Dicaeum ignipectus |
| - | 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 |
| [[File:Dicaeum cruentatum.jpg | 125px]] | Scarlet-backed flowerpecker | Dicaeum cruentatum |
| [[File:Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trochileum) of South Jakarta, Indonesia.jpg | 125px]] | Scarlet-headed flowerpecker | Dicaeum trochileum |
| :: |
References
References
- . ["Dicaeidae"](https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=186). *The Trust for Avian Systematics*.
- (2009). "Phylogenetic relationships of flowerpeckers (Aves: Dicaeidae): Novel insights into the evolution of a tropical passerine clade". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
- (1960). "Notes on flowerpeckers (Aves, Dicaeidae). 2, The primitive species of the genus Dicaeum. American Museum novitates ; no. 1991". American Museum Novitates.
- Cuvier, Georges. (1816). ["Le Règne animal distribué d'après son organisation : pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparée"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1844920 }} The volume has the year 1817 printed on the title page but was published in 1816. See: {{ cite book). Déterville.
- Jobling, James A.. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
- Gray, George Robert. (1840). "A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus". R. and J.E. Taylor.
- (1986). "Check-List of Birds of the World". Museum of Comparative Zoology.
- (February 2025). "Dippers, leafbirds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds". International Ornithologists' Union.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::