Diagnosis.—Bill short, flat, somewhat obtuse, minutely notched near tip of each maxilla, flared at base; gape wide and deeply cleft; culmen convex; nasal fossa broad, exposed, or filled with short, erect or antrorse, close-set velvety feathers; nostril narrowly elliptical; rictal vibrissae long, short, or absent; lacrimal bone free, articulating at two points; wings long and pointed, or short and rounded; primaries ten, tenth reduced in some species; tail short, narrow, even, two thirds or less length of wing, or much longer and forked or rounded; feet weak (except in Dulus and Phainoptila); tarsus generally shorter than middle toe and claw, distinctly scutellate with five or six divisions, the lateral plate subdivided (except in Phainoptila); lateral toes of nearly equal length; hallux approximately as long as inner lateral toe, or shorter; basal phalanx of middle toe more or less united to that of outer and inner toes; body stout; head generally conspicuously crested; plumage soft, smooth and silky (except in Dulus); eggs spotted; nest in trees; three subfamilies, five genera, eight species.
Subfamily Ptilogonatinae
Diagnosis.—Rictus with conspicuous bristles; nasal fossa almost entirely exposed; tail long and rounded, graduated, or square; caudal muscles and pygostyle well developed; wings rounded and short, first primary a half to a third as long as second; second primary shorter than third; humerus long, with small external condyle; plumage soft and silky, less so in Phainoptila; sexes dissimilar, young like adult female; three genera, four species.
Genus Phainoptila Salvin
Phainoptila Salvin, Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London, 1877:367, April 17, 1877. Type Phainoptila melanoxantha Salvin.
Diagnosis.—Without crest; tarsus longer than middle toe and claw, and booted or very slightly reticulate; tail shorter than wing, rounded; nostril exposed, ovate; rictal bristles distinct; first primary well developed; plumage normal, bill flared slightly at base.
Range.—Costa Rica and Panamá.
Phainoptila melanoxantha melanoxantha Salvin
Phainoptila
Phainoptila melanoxantha melanoxantha Salvin, Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London, 1877:367; April 17, 1877.