Chat (bird)

Chats
Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Subfamily:	Saxicolinae Vigors, 1825
Type genus
Saxicola
Genera
About 24, see text

Chats (formerly sometimes known as "chat-thrushes") 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). ^[1]

The name is normally applied to the more robust ground-feeding flycatchers found in Europe and Asia and most northern species are strong migrants. There are many genera and these birds in particular make up most of the subfamily Saxicolinae.

Other songbirds called "chats" are:

• Australian chats, genera Ashbyia and Epthianura of the honeyeater family (Meliphagidae). They belong to a more ancient lineage than Saxicolinae.
• American chats, genus Granatellus of the cardinal family (Cardinalidae), formerly placed in the wood-warbler family. They belong to a more modern lineage than Saxicolinae.
• Yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens), an enigmatic North American songbird previously placed in the wood-warbler family (Parulidae) and now in the monotypic Icteriidae; its true relationships are unresolved.

Taxonomy

The subfamily was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors with Saxicola as the type genus. ^{[2] [3]}

Genera

The subfamily formerly included fewer species. At the time of the publication of the third edition of the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World in 2003, the genera Myophonus , Brachypteryx and Heinrichia were included in the thrush family Turdidae. ^[4] Subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the species in these three genera are more closely related to species in Muscicapidae. ^{[5] [6]} As a consequence, these three genera are now placed here. ^{[1] [7]}

• Irania – single species: white-throated robin
• Luscinia – nightingales and relatives (4 species)
• Myiomela – robins (3 species)
• Calliope – rubythroats (5 species)
• Enicurus – forktails (8 species)
• Cinclidium – single species: blue-fronted robin
• Myophonus – whistling thrushes (9 species)
• Heinrichia – single species: great shortwing
• Vauriella – jungle flycatchers (3 species)
• Leonardina – single species: Bagobo babbler
• Brachypteryx – shortwings (6 species)
• Larvivora – East and South-East Asian robins (6 species)
• Ficedula – flycatchers (34 species)
• Tarsiger – bush robins and bluetails (8 species)
• Heteroxenicus – single species: Gould's shortwing
• Phoenicurus – redstarts (14 species)
• Monticola – rock thrushes (13 species)
• Saxicola – stonechats and chats (14 species)
• Campicoloides – single species: buff-streaked chat
• Emarginata – chats (3 species)
• Pinarochroa – single species: moorland chat
• Thamnolaea – single species: mocking cliff chat
• Myrmecocichla – chats (8 species)
• Oenanthe – wheatears (32 species)

The cladogram below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Min Zhao and collaborators that was published in 2023. Some regions of the phylogenetic tree were not strongly supported by the sequence data. ^[8] Both the genera included and the number of species in each genera are taken from the list of birds maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). ^[1]

Saxicolinae

Irania – white-throated robin Luscinia – nightingales, redstart, bluethroat (4 species) Calliope – rubythroats (5 species) Enicurus – forktails (8 species) Cinclidium – blue-fronted robin Myophonus – whistling thrushes (9 species) Myiomela – robins (3 species) Heinrichia – great shortwing Vauriella – jungle flycatchers (3 species) & Leonardina – Bagobo babbler Brachypteryx – shortwings (6 species) Larvivora – robins (8 species) Ficedula – flycatchers (34 species) Tarsiger – bush robins, bluetails (8 species) Heteroxenicus – Gould's shortwing Phoenicurus – redstarts (14 species) Monticola – rock thrushes (13 species) Saxicola – bush chats, stonechats (14 species) Campicoloides – buff-streaked chat Emarginata – chats (3 species) Pinarochroa – moorland chat Myrmecocichla – chats (8 species) & Thamnolaea – mocking cliff chat Oenanthe – wheatears (32 species)

References

1. 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.
2. Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1825). "Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 14 (3): 395-517 [441].
3. Bock, Walter J. (1994). History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 222. New York: American Museum of Natural History. pp. 116, 151, 264.
4. Dickinson, E.C., ed. (2003). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (3rd ed.). London: Christopher Helm. pp. 659, 673. ISBN   978-0-7136-6536-9.
5. Voelker, G.; Spellman, G.M. (2004). "Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA evidence of polyphyly in the avian superfamily Muscicapoidea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 30 (2): 386–394. Bibcode:2004MolPE..30..386V. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00191-X. PMID   14715230.
6. Sangster, G.; Alström, P.; Forsmark, E.; Olsson, U. (2010). "Multi-locus phylogenetic analysis of Old World chats and flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly at family, subfamily and genus level (Aves: Muscicapidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 57 (1): 380–392. Bibcode:2010MolPE..57..380S. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.008. PMID   20656044.
7. Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2, Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, U.K.: Aves Press. pp. 584, 598, 601, 607. ISBN   978-0-9568611-2-2.
8. 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. Bibcode:2023MolPE.17807646Z. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107646 . PMID   36265831.