Cercotrichas
| Cercotrichas | |
|---|---|
,_crop.jpg)
| |
| White-browed scrub robin (Cercotrichas leucophrys) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Cercotrichas F. Boie, 1831 |
| Type species | |
| Turdus erythropterus Gmelin, 1788=Turdus podobe Müller, 1776 | |
Cercotrichas is a genus of medium-sized insectivorous birds. They were formerly considered to be in the thrush family, (Turdidae), but are more often now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, (Muscicapidae).
Taxonomy
[edit]The genus Cercotrichas was introduced in 1831 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie.[1] The type species was subsequently designated as Turdus erythropterus Gmelin which is a junior synonym of Turdus podobe Müller, the black scrub robin.[2][3] The genus name Cercotrichas is from Ancient Greek kerkos meaning "tail" and trikhas meaning "thrush".[4]
This genus formerly included additional species. A molecular phylogenetic study of the Muscicapidae by Min Zhao and collaborators published in 2023 found that the genus Cercotrichas was paraphyletic.[5] In the rearrangement to create monophyletic genera five species were moved to the resurrected genus Tychaedon that had been introduced in 1917 by the American ornithologist Charles Richmond.[6]
Scrub robins are mainly African species of open woodland or scrub, which nest in bushes or on the ground, but the rufous-tailed scrub robin also breeds in southern Europe and east to Pakistan.
The genus contains the following five species:[6]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) |
Kalahari scrub robin | Cercotrichas paena | Kalahari Desert to Kaokoveld |
 |
Black scrub robin | Cercotrichas podobe | Sahel and montane Arabian Peninsula |
 |
Rufous-tailed scrub robin | Cercotrichas galactotes | southwestern Palearctic, Central Asia, Sahel and Horn of Africa |
 |
Brown-backed scrub robin | Cercotrichas hartlaubi | sparsely present across central Africa |
 |
White-browed scrub robin | Cercotrichas leucophrys | Sub-Saharan Africa (rare in southern Africa and African tropical rainforest) |
References
[edit]- ^ Boie, Friedrich (1831). "Bemerkungen über Species und einige ornithologische Familien und Sippen". Isis von Oken (in German). Cols 538–548 [542].
- ^ Finsch, Otto; Hartlaub, Gustav (1870). Die Vögel Ost-Afrikas (in German). Leipzig and Heidelberg: C.F. Winter'sche Verlagshandlung. pp. 249–250.
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 27.
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4..
- ^ Zhao, M.; Gordon Burleigh, J.; Olsson, U.; Alström, P.; Kimball, R.T. (2023). "A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 178: 107646. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107646.
- ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 12 March 2025.