Cyanistes

Cyanistes is a genus of small birds, family Paridae, the tit family, order Passeriformes, commonly known as blue tits, comprising three species and elevated to full genus status in 2005 after previously being treated as a subgenus of Parus; the reclassification followed a molecular phylogenetic study of mitochondrial DNA sequences and was accepted by both the International Ornithologists' Union and the British Ornithologists' Union. The genus name derives from classical Greek for dark blue, reflecting the distinctive coloration shared by its members, with the Eurasian blue tit serving as the type species. The genus inhabits Europe, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, Russia, Central Asia, northwest China, Manchuria and Pakistan.