Zosterops


Zosterops is a genus of passerine birds containing the typical white-eyes in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. The genus has the largest number of species in the white-eye family. They occur in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms. Typical white-eyes have a length of between. Their most characteristic feature is a conspicuous white feather ring around the eye, though some species lack it. The species in this group vary in the structural adaptations of the tongue. The Zosterops group is an example of a "great speciator" inhabiting a vast area and showing a remarkable morphological differentiation on islands, some of which maybe as close as apart.

Systematics

The genus Zosterops was introduced by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827. The type species was subsequently designated as the Malagasy white-eye. The name Zosterops combines the Ancient Greek words zōstēros "belt" or "girdle" and ōpos "eye".
The results of a series of molecular phylogenetic studies published between 2014 and 2018 prompted a major revision of species limits, in which 10 new genera were introduced. In the reorganisation, the English names of three of the existing genera were replaced.
There are over 100 species in the genus. This includes three species that have become extinct since the 16th century.