Troglodytes hiemalis Vieillot, 1819
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Winter wren in Prospect Park
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Open encyclopedia reference
The winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) is a very small North American bird and a member of the mainly New World wren family Troglodytidae. The species was formerly often lumped together with Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) of Eurasia and Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus) of western North America under the merged name of northern wren (with the scientific name T. troglodytes having priority), until they were split in 2010.
It breeds in coniferous forests from British Columbia to the Atlantic Ocean. It migrates through and winters across southeastern Canada, the eastern half the United States and (rarely) north-eastern Mexico. Small numbers may be casual in the western United States and Canada.
The scientific name for its genus is taken from the Greek word troglodytes (from "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and may refer to their tendency to nest in cavities or their foraging behavior, in which the winter wren almost exclusively ground-gleans in thick underbrush.
Wikipedia contributors, Winter wren; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T14:11:13.167178+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Troglodytes hiemalis Vieillot, 1819
- Name authority
- Vieillot, 1819
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Troglodytes
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyTroglodytidae Swainson, 1832
- genusTroglodytes Vieillot, 1809
- speciesTroglodytes hiemalis Vieillot, 1819
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Troglodytes. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Ochraceous WrenTroglodytes ochraceus Ridgway, 1882 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pacific WrenTroglodytes pacificus S. F. Baird, 1864 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tepui WrenTroglodytes rufulus Cabanis, 1848 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Socorro WrenTroglodytes sissonii (Grayson, 1868) | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Clarion WrenTroglodytes tanneri C. H. Townsend, 1890 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Santa Marta WrenTroglodytes monticola Bangs, 1899 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| House WrenTroglodytes aedon Vieillot, 1809 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Troglodytes cobbi Chubb, 1909 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rufous-browed WrenTroglodytes rufociliatus Sharpe, 1882 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mountain WrenTroglodytes solstitialis P. L. Sclater, 1859 | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Winter WrenTroglodytes troglodytes (Linnaeus, 1758) | TroglodytidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Nannus hiemalis (Vieillot, 1819) (Vieillot, 1819) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=916803 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:598T9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.