Editing Sugarbird (section)

==Taxonomy and systematics==
The [[genus]] ''Promerops'' was introduced by the French zoologist [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]] in 1760 with the [[Cape sugarbird]] (''Promerops cafer'') as the [[type species]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés | language=fr, la | at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010432 Vol. 1, p. 34], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36011800 Vol. 2, p. 460] | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1986 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=12 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=449 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482566 }}</ref> The name of the genus combines the [[Ancient Greek]] προ ''pro'' "close to" or "similar" and the genus'' [[Merops (genus)|Merops]] ''that contains the [[bee-eaters]].<ref name=hbwkey>{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2019 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/promerops | access-date=3 April 2019 }}</ref>

The relationships of the sugarbirds have been a source of considerable debate. They were first treated as a far-flung member of the [[honeyeater]] family, which is otherwise restricted to the Australasian region. Using egg white proteins in the 1970s, Sibley and Ahlquist mistakenly placed them with the starlings (the samples used were actually those of [[sunbird]]s). They have also been linked to the thrushes ([[Turdidae]]) and the sunbirds. Molecular studies find support for few close relatives, and they are treated as a [[monotypic]] family at present,<ref name = "HBW"/> although they form a clade with the [[Modulatricidae]], three enigmatic African species formerly placed with the [[Old World babbler]]s and thrushes.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Beresford |first1=P. |last2=Barker |first2=F.K. |last3=Ryan |first3=P.G. |last4=Crowe |first4=T.M. |date=May 2005 |title=African endemics span the tree of songbirds (Passeri): molecular systematics of several evolutionary 'enigmas' |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=272 | issue=1565 | pages=849–858 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2997 | doi-access=free | pmid=15888418 | pmc=1599865}}</ref><ref name=oliveros>{{ cite journal | last1=Oliveros | first1=C.H. | display-authors=etal | year=2019 | title=Earth history and the passerine superradiation | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume=116 | issue=16 | pages=7916–7925 | doi=10.1073/pnas.1813206116 | pmid=30936315 | doi-access=free | pmc=6475423 | bibcode=2019PNAS..116.7916O }}</ref>

=== Genetic diversity ===
Both species have been shown to exhibit exceptionally high genetic diversity at both [[microsatellite]] and [[Mitochondrial DNA|mitochondrial]] loci, with no signs of [[inbreeding]] and large [[Effective population size|effective population sizes.]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Haworth|first1=Evan S.|last2=Cunningham|first2=Michael J.|last3=Calf Tjorve|first3=Kathleen M.|date=2018-06-13|title=Population diversity and relatedness in Sugarbirds (Promeropidae: ''Promerops'' spp.)|journal=PeerJ|language=en|volume=6|pages=e5000|pmid=29915704|doi=10.7717/peerj.5000|doi-access=free|pmc=6004301 |hdl=2263/66416|hdl-access=free}}</ref>