Scrub robin
| Scrub robins | |
|---|---|
,_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 Black scrub robin | |
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.
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.