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[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]
| Image | Common Name | Scientific Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Karoo scrub robin | Cercotrichas coryphoeus | southern Africa |
 |
Brown scrub robin | Cercotrichas signata | forests of eastern southern Africa |
.jpg) |
Forest scrub robin | Cercotrichas leucosticta | sparsely present throughout the African tropical rainforest |
.jpg) |
Bearded scrub robin | Cercotrichas quadrivirgata | East Africa |
.jpg) |
Miombo scrub robin | Cercotrichas barbata | miombo |
.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]- ^ "Muscicapidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4..
- ^ 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
[edit]- 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.