| Laticilla | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Rufous-vented grass babbler,Laticilla burnesii | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Pellorneidae |
| Genus: | Laticilla Blyth, 1845 |
| Type species | |
| Eurycercus burnesii[1] Blyth, 1844 | |
Laticilla is agenus of smallpasserine birds in the familyPellorneidae. Members of the genus are found in Pakistan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh.
Amolecular phylogenetic study of theCisticolidae published in 2013 found that therufous-vented grass babbler did not lie within the clade containing the otherprinias but instead belonged to the Pellorneidae.[2] To createmonophyletic genera, the rufous-vented prinia and the closely relatedswamp grass babbler were placed in the reintroduced genusLaticilla in the Pellorneidae.[3] The genusLaticilla had been erected by the English zoologistEdward Blyth in 1845 with the rufous-vented prinia as thetype species. The genus replacedEurycercus that Blyth had introduced in 1844 only to subsequently discover that the name was preoccupied.[4][5] The nameLaticilla comes from the Latinlatus for "wide" or "broad" andcilla for "tail".[6]
The genus contains the following species:[3]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
_(24769757207).jpg) | Rufous-vented grass babbler | Laticilla burnesii | Pakistan, northwestern India and Nepal. |
| Swamp grass babbler | Laticilla cinerascens | state of Assam, India, and in nearby parts of northern Bangladesh |