# Longclaw > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Longclaw > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Longclaw.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longclaw > Source revision: 1344597993 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Genus of birds}} {{Redirect|Macronyx|for the taxonomic synonym of a genus of plants|Tephrosia}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Longclaws | image = Yellow throated Longclaw Macronyx croceus, crop.jpg | image_caption = [Yellow-throated longclaw](/source/Yellow-throated_longclaw) (''Macronyx croceus'') | taxon = Macronyx | authority = [Swainson](/source/William_Swainson), 1827 | type_species = ''[Alauda capensis](/source/Cape_longclaw)'' | type_species_authority = [Linnaeus](/source/Carl_Linnaeus), 1766 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 8, see text }} The '''longclaws''' are a [genus](/source/genus), '''''Macronyx''''', of small African [passerine](/source/passerine) birds in the family [Motacillidae](/source/Motacillidae). Longclaws are slender, often colorful, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. They are ground nesters, laying up to four speckled eggs. They are named for their unusually long hind claws, which are thought to help walk on grass. There are only between 10,000 and 19,000 Sharpe's longclaw left in Kenya. The genus ''Macronyx'' was introduced by the English naturalist [William Swainson](/source/William_Swainson) in 1827 with the [Cape longclaw](/source/Cape_longclaw) as the [type species](/source/type_species).{{ cite journal | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1827 | title=On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined | journal=Zoological Journal | volume=3 | pages=343–363 [344] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2339403 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1960 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=9 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=142 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480817 }} The name combines the [Classical Greek](/source/Classical_Greek) words {{Transliteration|el|makros}} "long" or "great" and {{Transliteration|el|onux}} "claw".{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/macronyx | accessdate=2 May 2018 }} ==Species list== The genus contains eight species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits | work=World Bird List Version 8.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waxbills/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=2 April 2018 }} {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution |- |120px || ''Macronyx sharpei''|| [Sharpe's longclaw](/source/Sharpe's_longclaw) || west and central Kenya. |- | 120px || ''Macronyx flavicollis'' || [Abyssinian longclaw](/source/Abyssinian_longclaw) || Ethiopia |- |120px || ''Macronyx fuelleborni'' || [Fülleborn's longclaw](/source/F%C3%BClleborn's_longclaw)|| south-central Africa. |- | 120px|| ''Macronyx capensis'' || [Cape longclaw](/source/Cape_longclaw) || Southern Africa in Zimbabwe and southern and eastern South Africa. |- | 120px|| ''Macronyx croceus'' || [Yellow-throated longclaw](/source/Yellow-throated_longclaw)|| Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |- |120px || ''Macronyx aurantiigula'' || [Pangani longclaw](/source/Pangani_longclaw) || Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia. |- |120px ||''Macronyx ameliae'' || [Rosy-throated longclaw](/source/Rosy-throated_longclaw)|| Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |- | || ''Macronyx grimwoodi'' || [Grimwood's longclaw](/source/Grimwood's_longclaw) || Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. |- |} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/pipits-wagtails-motacillidae Longclaw videos] on the Internet Bird Collection {{Passeroidea|N.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q389600}} Category:Macronyx Category:Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Category:Taxa named by William Swainson --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Longclaw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longclaw) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longclaw?action=history)). 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