Scrub robin

This article is about the African scrub robins. For the Australian birds with the same common name, see Drymodes.

Scrub robins
White-browed scrub robin (Cercotrichas leucophrys)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Cercotrichas
F. Boie, 1831
Type species
Turdus erythropterus[1]
Gmelin, 1789
Species

See text

The scrub robins or bush chats are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus Cercotrichas. 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). They are not closely related to the Australian scrub-robins, genus Drymodes in the family Petroicidae.

The genus name Cercotrichas is from Ancient Greek kerkos, "tail" and trikhas, "thrush".[2]

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 ten species:[3]

References

  1. ^ "Muscicapidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4..
  3. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 28 November 2023.

Further reading

  • Voelker, G.; Peñalbab, J.V.; Huntley, J.W.; Bowie, R.C.K. (2014). "Diversification in an Afro-Asian songbird clade (Erythropygia–Copsychus) reveals founder-event speciation via trans-oceanic dispersals and a southern to northern colonization pattern in Africa". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 73: 97–105. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.01.024. PMID 24508703.