The Siberian stonechat was formally described in 1773 as Muscicapa maura by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas based on a specimen collected at Karassum near the Ishim River in western Siberia.[1][2] The specific epithet is from Latinmaura meaning "African" or "Moorish" (i.e. "black" or "dark").[3] The Siberian stonechat is now placed in the genus Saxicola that was introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein.[4] The genus name combines the Latin saxum, saxi meaning "stone" with -cola meaning "dweller" from colere meaning "to inhabit".[5]
S. m. maurus (Pallas, PS, 1773) – breeds eastern Russia to central Asia; winters to Iran, Iraq, and northern India
S. m. indicus (Blyth, E, 1847) – breeds Himalayas (Kashmir to Sikkim and Assam); winters to India
S. m. przewalskii (Pleske, TE, 1889) – breeds mountains of western China; winters to Myanmar and northern India
S. m. stejnegeri (Parrot, CPA, 1908) – breeds eastern Siberia to Japan and Korea; winters to southern China and Indochina
The subspecies S. m. stejnegeri has sometimes been considered as a separate species, the Amur stonechat, based on molecular genetic studies.[6][7][8]
Description
Siberian stonechat resembles its close relative relative the European stonechat (S. rubicola), but is typically darker above and paler below, with a white rump and whiter underparts with less orange on the breast. The male in breeding plumage has black upperparts and head (lacking the brownish tones of the European stonechat), a conspicuous white collar, scapular patch and rump, and a restricted area of orange on the throat.[9]
The female has pale brown upperparts and head, white neck patches (not a full collar), and a pale, unstreaked pinkish-yellow rump. Males in winter plumage are intermediate between summer males and females, with a supercilium resembling the whinchat (S. rubetra); from this species and the female it can be distinguished by the full white collar.[9]
If seen at close distance, it can be recognized that its primary remiges are distinctly longer than in S. rubicola. In this, it closely resembles the whinchat, which like S. maurus is adapted to long-distance migrations.[9]
The male has a clicking call, like two pebbles knocked together. The song is high and twittering like the dunnock (Prunella modularis), an unrelated passeridansongbird belonging to the Passeroidea.[10]
There are five or six subspecies, with S. m. maurus (described above) and the distinct but similar S. m. stejnegeri found across northern and central Asia. The southern S. m. variegatus (west of the Caspian Sea), S. m. armenicus (eastern Turkey to Iran), S. m. indicus (Himalaya) and the Turkestan stonechatS. m. przewalskii (southwest China) are distinguished by larger white areas on the plumage.[11]
The breeding range covers most of temperateAsia, from about latitude 71°N in Siberia south to the Himalaya and southwest China, and west to eastern Turkey and the Caspian Sea area. It also breeds in the far northeast of Europe, mainly in Russia but occasionally as far west as Finland.[13]
The wintering range of the migratory bird is from southern Japan south to Thailand and India, and west to northeast Africa. On migration, small numbers reach as far west as western Europe, and exceptionally as far east as Alaska in North America.[9]
Behaviour
The Siberian stonechat is insectivorous. It breeds in open rough scrubland or rough grassland with scattered shrubs, from sea level to about 4,000 m ASL or more. The birds seem to avoid even cool temperate conditions and stay up north only during the hot continental summer. In the montane regions of the Himalaya foothills of Bhutan, migrants can on occasion be seen foraging in fields and pastures more than 2,000 m ASL, but most move further down and south to winter in tropical regions.[14]
Though it is not considered a distinct species by the IUCN, it is widespread and common and would not be considered a threatened species.[15]
↑Pallas, Peter Simon (1773). Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs (in German and Latin). Vol.2, Part 2. Saint Petersburg: Kayserlichen Academie der Wissenschaften. p.428, 708.
↑Jobling, James A. "Saxicola". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
↑Zink, R.M.; Pavlova, A.; Drovetski, S.; Wink, M.; Rohwer, S. (2009). "Taxonomic status and evolutionary history of the Saxicola torquata complex". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 52 (3): 769–773. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.05.016.
Wink, M.; Sauer-Gürth, H. & Gwinner, E. (2002): Evolutionary relationships of stonechats and related species inferred from mitochondrial-DNA sequences and genomic fingerprinting. British Birds95: 349–355. PDF fulltext
Wittmann, U.; Heidrich, P.; Wink, M. & Gwinner, E. (1995): Speciation in the Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) inferred from nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b-gene. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research33(2): 116–122. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.1995.tb00218.xHTML abstract
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