The genus name Anthus is the Latin name for a small bird of grasslands.

Molecular studies of the pipits suggested that the genus arose in East Asia around seven million years ago (mya), during the Miocene, and that the genus had spread to the Americas, Africa and Europe between 5 and 6 mya.
Speciation rates were high during the Pliocene (5.3 to 2.6 mya ) but have slowed down so during the Pleistocene.
Repeated dispersal between continents seems to have been important in generating new species in Eurasia, Africa and North America, rather than species arising by radiation once a continent was reached.
In South America, however, vicariance appears to have played an important role in speciation.
The genus name Anthus is the Latin name for a small bird of grasslands.
Molecular studies of the pipits suggested that the genus arose in East Asia around seven million years ago (mya), during the Miocene, and that the genus had spread to the Americas, Africa and Europe between 5 and 6 mya. Speciation rates were high during the Pliocene (5.3 to 2.6 mya ) but have slowed down so during the Pleistocene. Repeated dispersal between continents seems to have been important in generating new species in Eurasia, Africa and North America, rather than species arising by radiation once a continent was reached. In South America, however, vicariance appears to have played an important role in speciation.
Pipit