Merops (genus)


Merops is a large genus of bee-eaters, a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae. The members of this Old World family are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. They predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air.
All bee-eaters are in the genus Merops and subfamily Meropinae except for three Asiatic bearded bee-eaters in the subfamily Nyctyornithinae. The genus Merops was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The type species is the European bee-eater. The genus name is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater".

Taxonomy and systematics

Twenty-four species are recognized:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Black-headed bee-eaterMerops breweriAngola, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Sudan.
Blue-headed bee-eaterMerops muelleriCameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya
Blue-moustached bee-eaterMerops mentalisCameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
Black bee-eaterMerops gularisfrom Sierra Leone to southeast Nigeria
Swallow-tailed bee-eaterMerops hirundineussub-Saharan Africa
Little bee-eaterMerops pusillusSub-Saharan Africa
Blue-breasted bee-eaterMerops variegatusAngola, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Cameroon
Cinnamon-chested bee-eaterMerops oreobatesBurundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Red-throated bee-eaterMerops bulockiBenin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.
White-fronted bee-eaterMerops bullockoidessub-equatorial Africa.
Somali bee-eaterMerops revoiliiEthiopia, through Somalia to northern and eastern Kenya
White-throated bee-eaterMerops albicollissouthern Senegal to Uganda.
Böhm's bee-eaterMerops boehmiDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Green bee-eaterMerops orientalissub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and the Gambia to Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia and Asia through India to Vietnam
Blue-cheeked bee-eaterMerops persicusNorthern Africa, and the Middle East from eastern Turkey to Kazakhstan and India
Olive bee-eaterMerops superciliosusAngola; Botswana; Burundi; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Kenya; Madagascar; Malawi; Mayotte; Mozambique; Namibia; Rwanda; Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Blue-tailed bee-eaterMerops philippinussoutheastern Asia.
Rainbow bee-eaterMerops ornatusAustralia, New Guinea, and some of the southern islands of Indonesia.
Blue-throated bee-eaterMerops viridissouth-east Asia
Chestnut-headed bee-eaterMerops leschenaultiIndia east to Southeast Asia.
European bee-eaterMerops apiastersouthern Europe and in parts of north Africa and western Asia.
Rosy bee-eaterMerops malimbicusAngola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo.
Northern carmine bee-eaterMerops nubicusBenin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.
Southern carmine bee-eaterMerops nubicoidesKwaZulu-Natal and Namibia to Gabon, the eastern DRCongo and Kenya.

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species as species within the genus Merops: