Minivet
genus of passerine birds
The minivets are passerine birds belonging to the genus Pericrocotus in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae. There are about 15 species, occurring mainly in forests in southern and eastern Asia. They are fairly small, slender birds with long tails and an erect posture. Most species have bright red or yellow markings. All species show sexual dichromatism with the male usually having more brightly coloured plumage. They feed mainly on insects, foraging in groups in the tree canopy.
Taxonomy
The genus Pericrocotus was introduced in 1826 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie with Muscicapa miniata Temminck, the Sunda minivet, as the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek περι/peri meaning "very" or "all around" with κροκωτος/krokōtos meaning "golden-yellow" from κροκος/krokos meaning "saffron".
Species list
The genus contains 15 species:
White-bellied minivet, Pericrocotus erythropygius – India
Jerdon's minivet, Pericrocotus albifrons – central Myanmar
Fiery minivet, Pericrocotus igneus – Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and Palawan (southwest Philippines)
Small minivet, Pericrocotus cinnamomeus – Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka to Vietnam and north Malay Peninsula; disjunctly Java and Bali
Grey-chinned minivet, Pericrocotus solaris – Himalayas from central west Nepal to east China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Sumatra and Borneo
Sunda minivet, Pericrocotus miniatus – montane Sumatra and Java
Short-billed minivet, Pericrocotus brevirostris – Himalayas to Laos
Little minivet, Pericrocotus lansbergei – Sumbawa and Flores (west, central Lesser Sunda Islands)
Long-tailed minivet, Pericrocotus ethologus – Himalayas to Laos
Orange minivet, Pericrocotus flammeus – southwest India and Sri Lanka
Scarlet minivet, Pericrocotus speciosus – Himalayas to Indonesia, Philippines
Ashy minivet, Pericrocotus divaricatus – southeast Siberia, northeast China, Korea Peninsula and Japan (main island)
Ryukyu minivet, Pericrocotus tegimae – Ryukyu Islands, expanding north to Honshu (central, south Japan)
Swinhoe's minivet, Pericrocotus cantonensis – central, southeast China
Rosy minivet, Pericrocotus roseus – Himalayas to south China, Myanmar and northwest Vietnam
References
Perrins, Christopher, ed. (2004) The New Encyclopedia of Birds, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Minivet” as genus of passerine birds. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as genus of passerine birds. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1082724. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1826 and 2004.
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This entry incorporates text from “Minivet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.