Prinia
Genus of birds
title: "Prinia" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["prinia", "bird-genera"] description: "Genus of birds" topic_path: "general/prinia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prinia" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of birds ::
| image = Bar-winged_Prinia_(Prinia_familiaris)_.jpg | image_caption = Bar-winged prinia (Prinia familiaris) | taxon = Prinia | authority = Horsfield, 1821 | type_species = Prinia familiaris | type_species_authority = Horsfield, 1821 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Ashy_Prinia_(Prinia_socialis)_in_Hyderabad_W_IMG_8738.jpg" caption="Ashy prinia (''[[Prinia socialis]]'') in [[Hyderabad, India"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Plain_Prinia_I_IMG_7615.jpg" caption="Plain prinia (''[[Prinia inornata]]'') in [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Grey-breasted_Prinia_(Prinia_hodgsonii)_eyeing_Lannea_coromandelica_fruit_W_IMG_7890.jpg" caption="Grey-breasted prinia (''[[Prinia hodgsonii]]'') in [[Shamirpet]], [[Rangareddy district]], [[Andhra Pradesh]], India"] ::
Prinia is a genus of small insectivorous birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They were at one time classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae.
The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a little-known group of the tropical and subtropical Old World, the roughly thirty species being divided fairly equally between Africa and Asia.
These are birds mainly of open habitats such as long grass or scrub, in which they are not easily seen. They are mainly resident, migration being limited to local cold weather movements. Non-breeding birds may form small flocks.
Prinias have short wings but long tapering tails. They are fairly drab birds, brown or grey above (sometimes with dark streaks) and whitish below. Some species have different breeding and non-breeding plumages. The bill is a typical insectivore's, thin and slightly curved.
Taxonomy
The genus was erected by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield in 1821. The type species is the bar-winged prinia (Prinia familiaris). The name of the genus is derived from the Javanese prinya, the local name for the bar-winged prinia.
A molecular phylogenetic study of the Cisticolidae published in 2013 found that the rufous-vented grass babbler did not lie within the clade containing the other prinias. Based on this analysis the rufous-vented prinia and the closely related swamp grass babbler were moved to the reinstated genus Laticilla in the family Pellorneidae.
Species
The genus contains 29 species:
::data[format=table]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[File:Striated-prinia 29996308040 o.jpg | 120px]] | Himalayan prinia | Prinia crinigera |
| - | Striped prinia | Prinia striata | China, Taiwan |
| - | Brown prinia | Prinia polychroa | Indochina and Java |
| - | Burmese prinia | Prinia cooki | Burma and southern Yunnan |
| - | Annam prinia | Prinia rocki | Đà Lạt Plateau |
| [[File:Black-throated Prinia.jpg | 120px]] | Black-throated prinia | Prinia atrogularis |
| - | Rufous-crowned prinia | Prinia khasiana | Patkai |
| [[File:Prinia superc dysanc 190705-P901974 skrg.JPG | 120px]] | Hill prinia | Prinia superciliaris |
| [[File:PriniaPoliocephalaSmit.jpg | 120px]] | Grey-crowned prinia | Prinia cinereocapilla |
| [[File:Prinia buchanani -Rajasthan, India-8.jpg | 120px]] | Rufous-fronted prinia | Prinia buchanani |
| [[File:Rufescent Prinia - Krung Ching - Thailand S4E3616 (14258814955) (2).jpg | 120px]] | Rufescent prinia | Prinia rufescens |
| [[File:Grey-breasted prinia by Tisha Mukherjee 18.jpg | 120px]] | Grey-breasted prinia | Prinia hodgsonii |
| [[File:Israel. Graceful Prinia (15397291996).jpg | 120px]] | Graceful prinia | Prinia gracilis |
| [[File:Dikkuyruklu ötleğen - Graceful prinia - Prinia gracile 03.jpg | 120px]] | Delicate prinia | Prinia lepida |
| [[File:Jungle Prinia (Prinia sylvatica) in Hyderabad, AP W IMG 1329.jpg | 120px]] | Jungle prinia | Prinia sylvatica |
| [[File:Bar-winged Prinia (Prinia familiaris) .jpg | 120px]] | Bar-winged prinia | Prinia familiaris |
| [[File:Yellow-bellied Prinia - Taiwan S4E9702 (17133168450).jpg | 120px]] | Yellow-bellied prinia | Prinia flaviventris |
| [[File:Ashy prinia(Prinia socialis) 3 കതിർവാലൻ കുരുവി .jpg | 120px]] | Ashy prinia | Prinia socialis |
| [[File:Tawny-flanked Prinia (Prinia subflava) (11465162445).jpg | 120px]] | Tawny-flanked prinia | Prinia subflava |
| [[File:Plain Prinia @ Sholinganallur.jpg | 120px]] | Plain prinia | Prinia inornata |
| [[File:Pale Prinia - Kenya S4E5983 (17294754976).jpg | 120px]] | Pale prinia | Prinia somalica |
| [[File:River Prinia (Prinia fluviatilis).jpg | 120px]] | River prinia | Prinia fluviatilis |
| [[File:Black-chested Prinia (Prinia flavicans) (51094318785).jpg | 120px]] | Black-chested prinia | Prinia flavicans |
| [[File:Karoo (Spotted) Prinia (10537833606).jpg | 120px]] | Karoo prinia | Prinia maculosa |
| [[File:Prinia Drakensberg 2011 12 13 07 33 44 7225 Cedara.jpg | 120px]] | Drakensberg prinia | Prinia hypoxantha |
| [[File:Prinia molleri 9711829.jpg | 120px]] | São Tomé prinia | Prinia molleri |
| [[File:Prinia bairdii 29057092.jpg | 120px]] | Banded prinia | Prinia bairdii |
| [[File:Red-winged Prinia eating a grasshopper - Gambia (32527882031).jpg | 120px]] | Red-winged prinia | Prinia erythroptera |
| [[File:Red-fronted Prinia iNaturalist.jpg | 120px]] | Red-fronted prinia | Prinia rufifrons |
| :: |
Species formerly in Prinia but now moved to Laticilla in family Pellorneidae:
- Rufous-vented grass babbler, Laticilla burnesii
- Swamp grass babbler, Laticilla cinerascens
References
- Ryan, Peter (2006). "Family Cisticolidae (Cisticolas and allies)". pp. 378–492 in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2006) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers Lynx Edicions, Barcelona
- Urban, E.K.; Fry, C.H. & Keith, S. (1997) The Birds of Africa, vol. 5. Academic Press, London.
References
- . ["Cisticolidae"](https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=164). *The Trust for Avian Systematics*.
- Horsfield, Thomas. (1821). "Systematic arrangement and description of birds from the Island of Java". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.
- (1986). "Check-list of Birds of the World". Museum of Comparative Zoology.
- Jobling, James A.. (1991). "A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". [[Oxford University Press]].
- (2013). "Systematic revision of the avian family Cisticolidae based on a multi-locus phylogeny of all genera". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
- (February 2025). "Grassbirds, Donacobius, tetrakas, cisticolas, allies". International Ornithologists' Union.
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