Driophlox Scott, Chesser, Unitt, and Burns, 2024

Scott, Benjamin F., Chesser, R. Terry, Unitt, Philip & Burns, Kevin J., 2024, Driophlox, a new genus of cardinalid (Aves: Passeriformes: Cardinalidae), Zootaxa 5406 (3), pp. 497-500 : 498-499

Driophlox Scott, Chesser, Unitt, and Burns , genus nov.

Type species. Phoenicothraupis gutturalis Sclater, 1854 .

Included species and subspecies. Driophlox gutturalis ( Sclater, 1854) comb. nov., Driophlox atrimaxillaris ( Dwight & Griscom, 1924) comb. nov., Driophlox cristatus ( Lawrence, 1875) comb. nov., Driophlox fuscicauda ( Cabanis, 1861) comb. nov., Driophlox fuscicauda discolor ( Ridgway, 1901) comb. nov., Driophlox fuscicauda erythrolaema ( Sclater, 1862) comb. nov., Driophlox fuscicauda fuscicauda ( Cabanis, 1861) comb. nov., Driophlox fuscicauda insularis ( Salvin, 1888) comb. nov., Driophlox fuscicauda salvini ( Berlepsch, 1883) comb. nov., Driophlox fuscicauda willisi ( Parkes, 1969) comb. nov.

Diagnosis. Compared to Habia rubica , species of Driophlox are typically characterized by more conspicuous red or orange throats that contrast more with the rest of the underparts, and by dark brown or dark gray upperparts, differing from the reddish-brown upperparts of Habia rubica . Molecular analyses of Barker et al. (2015) and Scott (2022) revealed differences in both mtDNA and nuclear loci. These differences showed that the species placed in this new genus are not sister to Habia rubica , which is the type species of Habia and sister to Chlorothraupis . Cladistically, we define this genus as the descendants of the common ancestor of Driophlox gutturalis and Driophlox fuscicauda .

Etymology. From the Greek δριος (drios, translated in Liddell’s Greek–English Lexicon as “copse” or “thicket,” alluding to the birds’ habitat of forest undergrowth) and φλοξ (phlox, fire or flame, alluding to the varying shades of red plumage in males, as well as to the red crown patch or crest). The name thus means “flame of the forest undergrowth.” Like other names compounded from the root - phlox, it is feminine in gender, as is Habia . Thus, adoption of Driophlox entails no need for change in any specific or subspecific epithet.