Indicator is a genus of birds in the honeyguide family Indicatoridae. The name refers to the behaviour of some species, notably the greater honeyguide, which guide humans to bee colonies so that they can share in the spoils of wax and insects when the nest is broken into.
Indicator honeyguides are brood parasites which lay eggs in a nest of another species, in a series of about five during five to seven days. Most favour hole-nesting species, often the related barbets and woodpeckers. Nestlings have been known to physically eject their host's chicks from the nest, and they have hooks on their beaks with which they puncture the hosts' eggs or kill the nestlings, by repeated lacerations if not a fatal stab.
Taxonomy The genus Indicator was introduced in 1815 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens with the type species, by tautonymy, as Indicator sparrmanii Stephens, a junior synonym of Cuculus indicator Sparrman, the greater honeyguide. The genus name is from Latin indicator, indicatoris meaning "guide" or "one that points out".
Species The genus contains ten species:
Image Scientific name Common name DistributionIndicator maculatusSpotted honeyguide Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. Indicator variegatusScaly-throated honeyguide Angola, Burundi, DRC, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Indicator indicator Greater honeyguide sub-Saharan Africa Indicator archipelagicusMalaysian honeyguide western Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and the island of Sumatra. Indicator minorLesser honeyguide Widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa Indicator willcocksi Willcocks's honeyguide Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. Indicator exilis Least honeyguide Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. Indicator pumilio Dwarf honeyguide Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, and possibly Burundi.Indicator meliphilus Pallid honeyguide Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Indicator xanthonotus Yellow-rumped honeyguide Nepal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan
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