Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 29, 2026

Phoenicircus

Phoenicircus is a genus of birds in the family Cotingidae. They have a bright red breast, crown, tail, and rump with the Guianan species having dark brown wings and the black-necked species having black wings. They are frugivores, eating primarily berries and drupes.

Last revised
Jun 29, 2026
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Phoenicircus
Guianan red cotinga (Phoenicircus carnifex)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cotingidae
Genus: Phoenicircus
Swainson, 1832
Type species
Lanius carnifex (Guianan red cotinga)
Linnaeus, 1758

Phoenicircus is a genus of birds in the family Cotingidae. They have a bright red breast, crown, tail, and rump with the Guianan species having dark brown wings and the black-necked species having black wings. They are frugivores, eating primarily berries and drupes.1

Taxonomy

The genus Phoenicircus was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William Swainson.2 The type species was designated as the Guianan red cotinga by George Robert Gray in 1840.34 The name combines the Ancient Greek phoinikeos meaning "crimson" or "dark red" with kerkos meaning "tail".5

The genus contains the following two species:6

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Phoenicircus carnifex Guianan red cotinga Guianas and lower Amazon river valley
Phoenicircus nigricollis Black-necked red cotinga Amazonia
References

References

  1. Trail, Pepper W.; Donahue, Paul (1991). "Notes on the behavior and ecology of the red-cotingas (Contingidae: Phoenicircus)" (PDF). The Wilson Bulletin. 103 (4): 539–768.
  2. Swainson, William; Richardson, J. (1831). Fauna Boreali-Americana, or, The Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America. Vol. Part 2. The Birds. London: J. Murray. p. 491. The title page bears the year 1831 but the volume was not published until 1832.
  3. Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 33.
  4. Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 281.
  5. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 303. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2022). "Cotingas, manakins, tityras, becards". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 October 2021.