Leistes

The genus Leistes are predominantly South American grassland birds called meadowlarks. The genus was previously lumped with the North American meadowlarks in the genus Sturnella.

Leistes
Long-tailed meadowlark (Leistes loyca)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Icteridae
Genus:	Leistes Vigors, 1825
Type species
Oriolus americanus Gmelin, 1788
Species
S. militaris S. superciliaris S. bellicosus S. defilippii S. loyca

It includes five species of largely insectivorous grassland birds. In all species the male at least has a black or brown back and extensively red underparts.

List of species

There are five widely accepted members of the genus.^[1]

Genus Leistes – Vigors, 1825 – five species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Red-breasted meadowlark (formerly red-breasted blackbird) Male Female	Leistes militaris (Linnaeus, 1758)	south-western Costa Rica, and Trinidad, south to north-eastern Peru and central Brazil	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
White-browed meadowlark (formerly white-browed blackbird) Male Female	Leistes superciliaris (Bonaparte, 1850)	south-western Brazil through Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Peruvian meadowlark	Leistes bellicosus (De Filippi, 1847)	western Peru, Ecuador and far northern Chile.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Pampas meadowlark male female	Leistes defilippii (Bonaparte, 1850)	Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	VU
Long-tailed meadowlark	Leistes loyca (Molina, 1782)	southern South America and the Falkland Islands	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC

Taxonomy

By the early 20th century, the meadowlarks were split. Only the "yellow-breasted" meadowlarks (eastern and western meadowlarks, including Lilian's) remained in the genus Sturnella. The red-breasted and white-browed meadowlarks were moved to the genus Leistes, while the pampas meadowlark, Peruvian meadowlark and long-tailed meadowlark made up the genus Pezites, which was established by Cabanis in 1851. By the late 20th century, all meadowlarks were lumped in the genus Sturnella. In 2017, all the red-breasted meadowlarks were merged into the genus Leistes.