Akalat

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Akalats
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Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Sheppardia
Haagner, 1909
Type species
Sheppardia gunningi [1]
Haagner, 1909
Species

See text.

The akalats (stressed on the second syllable) [2] are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus Sheppardia. They were formerly placed in the thrush family, Turdidae, but are more often now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.

The genus contains 11 Sub-Saharan forest-dwelling species: [3]

Taxonomy and etymology

The genus Sheppardia was introduced in 1909 by the South African ornithologist Alwin Karl Haagner with the East coast akalat (Sheppardia gunningi) as the type species. [5] The name of the genus was chosen to honour the collector and farmer P. A. Sheppard. [5] [6] [7]

Richard Bowdler Sharpe, who had never visited Africa, associated the akalats, in their Bulu appellation, with birds of "different kinds" occurring in the forest understorey. [8] His main collector in West Africa, George L. Bates, denoted them more specifically as "little members of the genus Turdinus, which are called in Fang and Bulu "Akalat"....". [9] The latter genus denoted a group of Old World babblers, currently classed as near-babblers in the genus Illadopsis .

David Armitage Bannerman's volumes on West African birds, published from 1930 through to 1951, became well-established reference works for the region, and retained the name akalat for Trichastoma, which is Illadopsis. Reichenow however classed Turdinus batesi as an Alethe , [10] then in the Turdidae (thrushes and flycatchers), followed by Jackson and Sclater in 1938 who applied it to Sheppardia specifically. [11] Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1953, 1955) and Williams (1963 - 1980s) retained their usage. In 1964 the name was still recorded as denoting both groups, namely the Malococincla, i.e. Illadopsis near-babblers in West Africa, and the Sheppardia chats in East African literature, [12] though the latter convention prevailed in modern times.

Yet the calls of the aforementioned species only doubtfully agree with the akalat's appellation as an omen of death. It is recorded that the akalat's forest song, respectively referred to as "boofio" and "woofio" by the Bulu and Ntumu peoples, is believed by them to predict the death of a near parent who bids them farewell with this song. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East coast akalat</span> Species of bird

The east coast akalat or Gunning's robin is a small passerine bird which can be found in the east of Africa from Kenya to Mozambique, and is named after J. W. B. Gunning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thrush (bird)</span> Family of birds

The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycatchers. Thrushes are small to medium-sized ground living birds that feed on insects, other invertebrates and fruit. Some unrelated species around the world have been named after thrushes due to their similarity to birds in this family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chat (bird)</span> Subfamily of birds

Chats are a group of small Old World insectivorous birds formerly classified as members of the thrush family (Turdidae), but following genetic DNA analysis, are now considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old World flycatcher</span> Family of birds

The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World, with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat and northern wheatear, found also in North America. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The family includes 352 species and is divided into 53 genera.

<i>Alethe</i> (genus) Genus of birds

Alethe is a genus of small mainly insectivorous birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in West Africa.

<i>Cossypha</i> Genus of birds

Cossypha are small insectivorous birds, with most species called robin-chats. They were formerly in the thrush family Turdidae, but are now more often treated as part of the Old World flycatcher Muscicapidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scrub robin</span> Genus of birds

The scrub robins or bush chats are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus Cercotrichas. They were formerly 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.

<i>Cochoa</i> Genus of birds

The cochoas are medium-sized frugivorous, insectivorous and molluscivorous birds in the genus Cochoa. Their bright contrasting plumage patterns, sexual dimorphism and feeding habits made their systematic position difficult to ascertain in early times, Richard Bowdler Sharpe placed them with the Prionopidae in 1879 while many considered them as some kind of aberrant thrush. The genus was previously included in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that it is more closely related to the thrush family Turdidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palm thrush</span> Genus of birds

The palm thrushes are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus Cichladusa. They were formerly in the thrush family Turdidae, but are now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher Muscicapidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain wheatear</span> Species of bird

The mountain wheatear or mountain chat is a small insectivorous passerine bird that is endemic to southwestern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karoo chat</span> Species of bird

The Karoo chat is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is a common resident breeder in southwesternmost Angola, western Namibia and western South Africa. Its habitat is Karoo and desert scrub in the south, extending to the escarpment zone in the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-winged robin-chat</span> Species of bird

The grey-winged robin-chat or grey-winged akalat is a bird in the family Muscicapidae. The species was first described by Anton Reichenow in 1892.

Tessmann's flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in central and western Africa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Sierra Leone. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharpe's akalat</span> Species of bird

Sharpe's akalat is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Tanzania and northern parts of Zambia and Malawi. Its natural habitats are boreal forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pellorneidae</span> Family of birds

The jungle babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds belonging to the superfamily Sylvioidea. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average the length of their body, or longer. These birds are found in tropical zones, with the greatest biodiversity in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

<i>Chamaetylas</i> Genus of birds

Chamaetylas is a genus of small, mainly insectivorous birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that are native to sub-Saharan Africa.

References

  1. ↑ "Muscicapidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
  2. ↑ As recorded by George L. Bates
  3. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". World Bird List Version 6.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Species Updates – IOC World Bird List" . Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  5. 1 2 Haagner, Alwin Karl (1909). "Descriptions of two new species of flycatchers from the Portuguese south-east Africa". Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 1: 179–180 [180].
  6. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 355. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. ↑ Plug, C. "S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science". S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Sharpe, R.B. (1904). "On further collections of birds from the Efulen District of Camaroon, West Africa, Part II". Ibis. 46 (4): 591–638. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1904.tb00524.x.
  9. ↑ Sharpe, R.B. (1908). "On further collections of birds from the Efulen District of Camaroon, West Africa, Part V". Ibis. 46 (9): 117–129 [119]. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1908.tb05213.x.
  10. ↑ Reichenow, A. (1905). Die Vögel Afrikas, Vol. 3. Neudamm: J. Neumann.
  11. ↑ Jackson, F.J. & Sclater W.L. (1938). The birds of Kenya Colony and the Uganda Protectorate, Vol. 2. London: Gurney & Jackson.
  12. ↑ A New Dictionary of Birds, ed. Sir A. Landsborough Thomson (London, Nelson, 1964)
  13. ↑ Culture Vive, Phénomène des Présages Chez les Fang/Beti, under Beti-Fang-Bulu , retrieved 4 July 2017[ permanent dead link ]: Un autre présage de mort est le chant de l’oiseau appelé «akalat», chez les Bulu «Boofio», chez les Ntumu «Woofio». Ce chant est toujours entendu dans la forêt et prédit la mort d’un proche parent qui par ce chant vous fait ses adieux.
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