Wikipedia
Cyanistes
Cyanistes is a genus of birds in the tit family Paridae. The genus was at one time considered as a subgenus of Parus. In 2005 an article describing a molecular phylogenetic study that had examined mitochondrial DNA sequences from members of the tit family, proposed that a number of subgenera including Cyanistes be elevated to genus status. This proposal was accepted by International Ornithologists' Union and the British Ornithologists' Union.
The genus contains three species:
- Eurasian blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus
- African blue tit, Cyanistes teneriffae
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Azure tit, Cyanistes cyanus
- Yellow-breasted tit, Cyanistes cyanus flavipectus
The name Cyanistes was introduced for the subgenus by the German naturalist Jakob Kaup in 1829. The word comes from the classical Greek kuanos meaning dark-blue.