What is "pnoepyga"

Pnoepyga is a genus of passerines endemic to southern and south eastern Asia. Its members are known as wren-babblers or cupwings. The genus contains five species. The genus has long been placed in the babbler family Timaliidae. A 2009 study of the DNA of the families Timaliidae and the Old World warblers ( Sylviidae) found no support for the placement of the genus in either family, prompting the authors to erect a new monogeneric family, the Pnoepygidae.

This genus of diminutive passerines has a mostly montane distribution in South and South East Asia. The scaly-breasted wren-babbler or scaly-breasted cupwing is found in the mountainous areas of north India eastwards to southern China and northern Vietnam. The Taiwan wren-babbler or Taiwan cupwing is endemic to Taiwan, and similarly the Nepal wren-babbler or Nepal cupwing has a restricted distribution, mostly occurring in Nepal (and also slightly into India). The most widespread species is the pygmy wren-babbler or pygmy cupwing, which occurs from China and India south through Southeast Asia into the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia as far as Flores and Timor.