# Elaenia

Elaenia is a genus of passerine birds in the tyrant flycatcher family which occur in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Except by voice, specific identification is often difficult since many species are very similar. They are also known by the common name elaenia, which they share with the similar tyrant flycatchers of the genus Myiopagis.
Elaenia flycatchers are typically brownish, greyish or olive above, and off-white and/or pale yellow on the belly, with a white or pale yellowish eye-ring of variable strength and two or three wing bars. Some species show a crest; often with a semi-concealed white patch/streak.

## Taxonomy

The genus Elaenia was introduced by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1836. The type species was subsequently designated as the yellow-bellied elaenia. The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek ελαινεος elaineos "of olive-oil" or "oleaginous".
The genus contains 22 species:
| Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
| Yellow-bellied elaenia | Elaenia flavogaster | Central and South America as far as northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. |
| Caribbean elaenia | Elaenia martinica | West Indies and parts of Central America. |
| Large elaenia | Elaenia spectabilis | western Amazonia to eastern Brazil and central Bolivia. |
| Noronha elaenia | Elaenia ridleyana | Fernando de Noronha |
| White-crested elaenia | Elaenia albiceps | Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and northernmost Chile. |
| Chilean elaenia | Elaenia chilensis | southern Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego. |
| Small-billed elaenia | Elaenia parvirostris | Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. |
| Olivaceous elaenia | Elaenia mesoleuca | Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. |
| Slaty elaenia | Elaenia strepera | western Amazon Basin, Colombia and Venezuela. |
| Mottle-backed elaenia | Elaenia gigas | Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. |
| Brownish elaenia | Elaenia pelzelni | Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. |
| Plain-crested elaenia | Elaenia cristata | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. |
| Lesser elaenia | Elaenia chiriquensis | Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. |
| Coopmans's elaenia | Elaenia brachyptera | southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. |
| Rufous-crowned elaenia | Elaenia ruficeps | Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. |
| Mountain elaenia | Elaenia frantzii | Guatemala to Colombia and western Venezuela |
| Highland elaenia | Elaenia obscura | southeastern Ecuador to Bolivia and northwestern Argentina |
| Small-headed elaenia | Elaenia sordida | southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina. |
| Great elaenia | Elaenia dayi | Venezuela and far northern Brazil, and may also occur in Guyana. |
| Sierran elaenia | Elaenia pallatangae | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. |
| Tepui elaenia | Elaenia olivina | Guyana and Venezuela |
| Greater Antillean elaenia | Elaenia fallax | Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Jamaica. |