Yellow-billed Oxpecker
Buphagus africanus
Oxpeckers (Buphagidae) · Passeriformes (Passeriformes)
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Family
The oxpeckers are two species of bird which make up the genus Buphagus, from Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), meaning "ox", and φάγος (phágos), meaning "eater", and family Buphagidae. The oxpeckers were formerly usually treated as a subfamily, Buphaginae, within the starling family, Sturnidae, but molecular phylogenetic studies have consistently shown that they form a separate lineage that is basal to the sister clades containing the Sturnidae and the Mimidae (mockingbirds, thrashers, and allies). Oxpeckers are endemic to the savanna of …
Order
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest order of birds and one of the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of …