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]}

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. ^[4] 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 (6 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)

Species in taxonomic order

• Subfamily Saxicolinae
  • Genus Tarsiger – bush-robins
    • Red-flanked bluetail or orange-flanked bush-robin, Tarsiger cyanurus
    • Golden bush robin, Tarsiger chrysaeus
    • White-browed bush robin, Tarsiger indicus
    • Rufous-breasted bush robin, Tarsiger hyperythrus
    • Collared bush robin, Tarsiger johnstoniae
  • Genus Luscinia (4 species)
  • Genus Calliope (4 species)
  • Genus Larvivora (8 species)
  • Genus Erithacus – European robin
  • Genus Irania – white-throated robin
  • Genus Saxicola – bushchats and stonechats (c. 15 species)
  • Genus Pogonocichla
    • White-starred robin, Pogonocichla stellata
  • Genus Swynnertonia
    • Swynnerton's robin, Swynnertonia swynnertoni
  • Genus Stiphrornis – forest robins (1–5 species, depending on taxonomy)
  • Genus Xenocopsychus
    • Angola cave chat, Xenocopsychus ansorgei
  • Genus Saxicoloides – Indian robin (formerly)
  • Genus Cinclidium
    • Blue-fronted robin, Cinclidium frontale
  • Genus Myiomela
    • White-tailed robin, Myiomela leucura
    • Javan blue robin, Myiomela diana
    • Sumatran blue robin, Myiomela sumatrana
  • Genus Grandala
    • Grandala, Grandala coelicolor
  • Genus Namibornis
    • Herero chat, Namibornis herero
  • Genus Emarginata
    • Sickle-winged chat, Emarginata sinuata
    • Karoo chat, Emarginata schlegelii
    • Tractrac chat, Emarginata tractrac
  • Genus Oenanthe
    • Familiar chat, Oenanthe familiaris
    • Brown-tailed rock chat, Oenanthe scotocerca
    • Brown rock chat, Oenanthe fusca
    • Sombre rock chat, Oenanthe dubia
    • Blackstart, Oenanthe melanura
    • Moorland chat, Oenanthe sordida
  • Genus Myrmecocichla
    • Sooty chat (Myrmecocichla nigra)
    • Anteater chat (Myrmecocichla aethiops)
    • Congo moor chat (Myrmecocichla tholloni)
    • Ant-eating chat (Myrmecocichla formicivora)
    • Rüppell's black chat (Myrmecocichla melaena)
    • Mountain chat (Myrmecocichla monticola)
    • Arnot's chat (Myrmecocichla arnoti)
    • Ruaha chat (Myrmecocichla collaris)
  • Genus Thamnolaea
    • Mocking cliff chat, Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris
  • Genus Pinarornis
    • Boulder chat Pinarornis plumosus

Saxicolinae genera not usually called "chats" are:

• Genus Sheppardia – akalats (9 species)
• Genus Cossyphicula – white-bellied robin-chat – may belong in Cossypha
• Genus Cossypha – robin-chats (15 species, excluding the white-bellied robin-chat)
• Genus Cichladusa – palm-thrushes (3 species)
• Genus Cercotrichas – scrub-robins (10 species)
• Genus Myophonus , whistling thrushes
• Genus Copsychus – magpie-robins or shamas (12 species)
• Genus Phoenicurus – true redstarts (11 species)
• Genus Enicurus – forktails (7 species)
• Genus Cochoa – cochoas (4 species)
• Genus Brachypteryx – (10 species)
• Genus Heinrichia – great shortwing
• Genus Leonardina – Bagobo babbler
• Genus Oenanthe – wheatears (some 20 species)

Aberrant redstarts, possibly belonging in this subfamily:

• Genus Chaimarrornis – white-capped redstart
• Genus Rhyacornis (2 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. 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.