The tinkerbirds or tinker barbets are the genus Pogoniulus of the Lybiidae, the African barbet family of near passerines, which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. Tinkerbirds are widely distributed in tropical Africa.
The genus Pogoniulus was introduced in 1842 by the French ornithologist Frédéric de Lafresnaye with "Le Barbion mâle" Levaillant, that is Bucco pusillus Dumont, 1805, as the type species, now the southern red-fronted tinkerbird.[1] [2] [3] The genus name is a diminutive of the name Pogonias that had been introduced in 1811 by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.[4] Pogonias is from the Ancient Greek πωγωνιας/pōgōnias meaning "bearded".[5]
The genus contains 10 species:[6]
| Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speckled tinkerbird | Pogoniulus scolopaceus | Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Uganda. | |
| Green tinkerbird | Pogoniulus simplex | Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. | |
| Moustached tinkerbird | Pogoniulus leucomystax | Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. | |
| Western tinkerbird | Pogoniulus coryphaea | Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda. | |
| Red-rumped tinkerbird | Pogoniulus atroflavus | Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. | |
| Yellow-throated tinkerbird | Pogoniulus subsulphureus | Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. | |
| Yellow-rumped tinkerbird | Pogoniulus bilineatus | Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. | |
| Northern red-fronted tinkerbird | Pogoniulus uropygialis | Eritrea, Ethiopa and Somalia to southeast Sudan, Uganda and southeast Tanzania | |
| Southern red-fronted tinkerbird | Pogoniulus pusillus | Southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa | |
| Yellow-fronted tinkerbird | Pogoniulus chrysoconus | Africa south of the Sahara Desert | |
Supposed fossil remains of Late Miocene tinkerbirds were found at Kohfidisch (Austria)[7] but are not yet thoroughly studied. It is not clear whether they belong to an extant genus, but given the late date this may well be so.