Lesser Greenlet

The lesser greenlet (Pachysylvia decurtata) is a small passerine bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. == Taxonomy and systematics == The lesser greenlet was originally described in 1838 as Sylvicola decurtata. It later was renamed Hylophilus decurtatus and later still moved to its present genus Pachysylvia and its specific epithet returned to decurtata to match the feminine gender of the genus. The lesser greenlet's further taxonomy is unsettled. The IOC, AviList, and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign it these six subspecies: P. d. brevipennis (Giraud Jr, 1851) P. d. dickermani (Parkes, 1991) P. d. phillipsi (Parkes, 1991) P. d. decurtata (Bonaparte, 1838) P. d. darienensis Griscom, 1927 P. d. minor (Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 1884) However, the Clements taxonomy does not recognize P. d. brevipennis, P. d. dickermani, and P. d. phillipsi but includes them within the nominate P. d. decurtata. Subspecies P. d. minor was for a time treated as a separate species, the gray-headed greenlet, but regained its present subspecies status because it intergrades with the nominate in Panama. The North American Classification Committee of the American…