Tychaedon

Tychaedon
Bearded scrub robin (Tychaedon quadrivirgata)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Genus:	Tychaedon Richmond, 1917
Type species
Cossypha signata Brown scrub robin Sundevall, 1850

Tychaedon is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. It contains scrub robins that were formerly placed in the genus Cercotrichas .

Taxonomy

The species now placed in this genus were previously placed in the genus Cercotrichas . A molecular phylogenetic study of the family Muscicapidae published in 2023 found that Cercotrichas was paraphyletic. ^[1] In the rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, some species were moved to the resurrected genus Tychaedon. ^[2] This genus had been erected in 1917 by the American ornithologist Charles Wallace Richmond as a replacement name for Aedonopsis that had been introduced by Richard Bowdler Sharpe 1883. The type species is Cossypha signata Sundevall, 1850, the brown scrub robin. ^{[3] [4]} The genus name Tychaedon combines Ancient Greek τυχη/tukhē meaning "chance" or "luck" with αηδων/aēdōn, αηδονος/aēdonos meaning "nightingale" or "songstress". ^[5]

These are African species of open woodland or scrub, that nest in bushes or on the ground.

The genus contains the following five species: ^[2]

Image	Common Name	Scientific Name	Distribution
	Karoo scrub robin	Tychaedon coryphoeus	southern Africa
	Brown scrub robin	Tychaedon signata	forests of eastern southern Africa
	Forest scrub robin	Tychaedon leucosticta	sparsely present throughout the African tropical rainforest
	Bearded scrub robin	Tychaedon quadrivirgata	East Africa
	Miombo scrub robin	Tychaedon barbata	miombo

References

1. 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. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107646 .
2. 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.
3. Richmond, Charles Wallace (1917). "Generic names applied to birds during the years 1906 to 1915 inclusive, with additions and corrections to Waterhouse's Index Generum Avium". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 53 (2221): 565-636 [575, footnote].
4. Sharpe, R. Bowdler (1883). Catalogue of the Passeriformes or Perching Birds in the Collection of the British Museum. Cichlomorphae: Part IV. Containing the concluding portion of the family Timeliidae (Babbling Thrushes). Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Vol. 7. London: Trustees of the British Museum. p. 68.
5. Jobling, James A. "Tychaedon". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 12 March 2025.