Loriotus is a genus of birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Tachyphonus.
Taxonomy and species list The three species now assigned to Loriotus were traditionally placed in the genus Tachyphonus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Tachyphonus was polyphyletic. In the subsequent reorganization the genus Loriotus was resurrected for these three species. The genus had been introduced in 1821 by the Polish zoologist Feliks Paweł Jarocki with the flame-crested tanager as the type species. Link is to the book not the page. The name is derived from the French word loriot that is used for the Old World orioles.
The three species in the genus are: Male Female Common name Scientific name Distribution Flame-crested tanager Loriotus cristatus Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Yellow-crested tanager Loriotus rufiventer Peru, Acre and northwestern Bolivia White-shouldered tanager Loriotus luctuosus Honduras to Panama, South America south to Ecuador and southern Brazil, and on Trinidad.
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