Rock thrush

Rock thrushes
Male short-toed rock thrush (Monticola brevipes)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Genus:	Monticola F. Boie, 1822
Type species
Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus, 1766
Species
See text
Synonyms
Pseudocossyphus(Sharpe, 1883)

The rock thrushes, Monticola, are a genus of chats, medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous songbirds. All are Old World birds, and most are associated with mountainous regions.

Taxonomy

The genus was erected by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie in 1822. ^{[1] [2]} Monticola is the Latin word for mountain-dweller or mountaineer. ^[3] The genus was formerly included in the thrush family Turdidae. ^[4] Molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2004 and 2010 showed that the species are more closely related to members of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. ^{[5] [6]}

The genus contains the following species: ^[7]

Image	Common Name	Scientific Name	Distribution
	Blue-capped rock thrush	Monticola cinclorhyncha	Himalayas; winters to western and eastern Ghats
	White-throated rock thrush	Monticola gularis	Manchuria
	Chestnut-bellied rock thrush	Monticola rufiventris	Himalayas, Patkai and southern China
-	Short-toed rock thrush	Monticola brevipes	arid areas of southwestern Angola and southern Africa
	Sentinel rock thrush	Monticola explorator	southern Africa
	Amber Mountain rock thrush	Monticola erythronotus	Amber Mountain, Madagascar
	Forest rock thrush	Monticola sharpei	Madagascar
	Benson's rock thrush	Monticola bensoni	southern-central Madagascar
	Littoral rock thrush	Monticola imerina	southern coastal Madagascar
-	Little rock thrush	Monticola rufocinereus	eastern Afromontane
	Common rock thrush	Monticola saxatilis	temperate rocky regions of Palearctic; winters to Africa
	Blue rock thrush	Monticola solitarius	temperate and elevated areas of Palearctic; winters to Africa, Arabia and Indomalaya
	Cape rock thrush	Monticola rupestris	southern Africa
	Miombo rock thrush	Monticola angolensis	Miombo woodlands
	White-winged cliff chat	Monticola semirufus	Ethiopian Highlands

Fossil record

Monticola pongraczi (Pliocene of Beremend, Hungary) ^[8]

References

1. Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr. (1964). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 135.
2. Boie, F. (1822). "Ueber Classification, insonderheit der europäischen Vogel". Isis von Oken (in German). 10–11. Col. 552.
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 260. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Dickinson, E.C., ed. (2003). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (3rd ed.). London: Christopher Helm. 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. 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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.008. PMID   20656044.
7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
8. Kessler, E. 2013. Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary. – Hantkeniana, Budapest, 2013, 8: 37-149.

Further reading

• Outlaw, R.K.; Voelker, G.; Outlaw, D.C. (2007). "Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the Rock-thrushes (Muscicapidae: Monticola)". The Auk. 124 (2): 561–577. doi: 10.1642/0004-8038(2007)124[561:MSAHBO]2.0.CO;2 .

External links

• Rock thrush videos on the Internet Bird Collection