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Arachnothera

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Arachnothera

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Also known as Spiderhunter

The spiderhunters are birds of the genus Arachnothera, part of the sunbird family Nectariniidae. The genus contains thirteen species found in the forests of south and southeastern Asia. They are large representatives of the sunbird family, with drab plumage and long strongly curved bills. They feed on both nectar and a range of small arthropods.

Species

Little Spiderhunter

GENUS

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassAves
  4. OrderPasseriformes
  5. FamilyNectariniidae
Observations1,682
Observations recorded153,032

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
41
With media
5
Family
Nectariniidae
Collections
CUMV, CLO, USNM, GNM, NHMUK, LSUMZ
Recorded in
United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, India

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

8 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • Distribution and habitat
  • Description
  • Diet and feeding
  • Breeding
  • Species
  • References
  • External links

The spiderhunters are birds of the genus Arachnothera, part of the sunbird family Nectariniidae. The genus contains thirteen species found in the forests of south and southeastern Asia. They are large representatives of the sunbird family, with drab plumage and long strongly curved bills. They feed on both nectar and a range of small arthropods.

==Taxonomy== The genus Arachnothera was introduced in 1826 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck to accommondate a single species, Nectarinia chrysogenys Temminck, the yellow-eared spiderhunter, which is therefore considered to be the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek αραχνης/arakhnēs meaning "spider" with -θηρας/-thēras meaning "hunter".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Arachnothera” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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