Wheatear

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Wheatears
Northern wheatear male09.JPG
Male northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Subfamily: Saxicolinae
Genus: Oenanthe
Vieillot, 1816
Type species
Motacilla oenanthe [1]
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

Synonyms

Cercomela

The wheatears are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the thrush family, Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. This is an Old World group, but the northern wheatear has established a foothold in eastern Canada and Greenland and in western Canada and Alaska.

Contents

Taxonomy

The genus Oenanthe was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 with Oenanthe leucura, the black wheatear, as the type species. [2] [3] The genus formerly included fewer species but molecular phylogenetic studies of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae found that the genus Cercomela was polyphyletic with five species, including the type species C. melanura , phylogenetically nested within the genus Oenanthe. [4] [5] This implied that Cercomela and Oenanthe were synonyms. The genus Oenanthe (Vieillot, 1816) has taxonomic priority over Cercomela (Bonaparte, 1856) making Cercomela a junior synonym. [4] [6] The genus name Oenanthe was used by Aristotle for an unidentified bird. The word is derived from the Greek oenoē meaning "vine" and anthos meaning "bloom". The bird was associated with the grape harvest season. [7]

The name "wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a folk etymology of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species. [8]

Description

Most species have characteristic black and white or red and white markings on their rumps or their long tails. Most species are strongly sexually dimorphic; only the male has the striking plumage patterns characteristic of the genus, though the females share the white or red rump patches.

Species list

The genus contains 33 species: [9]

ImageCommon NameScientific NameDistribution
Oenanthe oenanthe 01 II.jpg Northern wheatear Oenanthe oenantheHolarctic ; winters to Sub-Saharan Africa
Oenanthe seebohmi, Morocco 1.jpg Atlas wheatear Oenanthe seebohmi Maghreb  ; winters in western Sahel
Capped Wheatear, Oenanthe pileata, at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Northern Cape, South Africa (36045617096).jpg Capped wheatear Oenanthe pileatasouthern Sub-Saharan Africa
- Buff-breasted wheatear Oenanthe bottae Asir Mountains
2009-0726-OenaBott-Ethiopia-LakeTana-170.jpg Rusty-breasted wheatear Oenanthe frenata Ethiopian Highlands
Isabelline wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) male, non-breeding.jpg Isabelline wheatear Oenanthe isabellinacentral-southern Eurasia ; winters to Sub-Saharan, Africa, Middle east and South Asia
- Heuglin's wheatear Oenanthe heugliniinorthern Sub-Saharan Africa
Oenanthe monacha 93093541.jpg Hooded wheatear Oenanthe monachaMiddle-East
Desert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti) (8079430894).jpg Desert wheatear Oenanthe desertiMaghreb and central Asia ; winters to North Africa, Middle East and South Asia
CollalbaRubia.jpg Western black-eared wheatear Oenanthe hispanicawestern Mediterranean ; winters to western Sahel
Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) (8079431820).jpg Pied wheatear Oenanthe pleschankacentral Asia ; winters to East Africa
Oostelijke-blonde-tapuit-3-2 (28541306412).jpg Eastern black-eared wheatear Oenanthe melanoleucaeastern Mediterranean ; winters to eastern Sahel
Cyprus Wheatear, Avagas, Cyprus 1.jpg Cyprus wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca Cyprus
Oenanthe albifrons.jpg White-fronted black chat Oenanthe albifrons Sudan (region)
- Somali wheatear Oenanthe phillipsi Horn of Africa
Red-rumped wheatear (Oenanthe moesta moesta) male Kebili.jpg Red-rumped wheatear Oenanthe moestaMorocco to Jordan; partly winters to eastern Saudi Arabia
Blackstart-2006.01.04 m217.jpg Blackstart Oenanthe melanuraSahel and Red Sea region
Oenanthe familiaris at Kgalagadi (45974838501).jpg Familiar chat Oenanthe familiarisSub-Saharan Africa
- Brown-tailed rock chat Oenanthe scotocercaChad, western Sudan and Horn of Africa
- Sombre rock chat Oenanthe dubiamontane desert of central Ethiopia
20191210 Brazowy ptak w Dzodhpurze 1051 7865.jpg Brown rock chat Oenanthe fuscanorthern South Asia
Variable wheatear (Oenanthe picata picata) male.jpg Variable wheatear Oenanthe picatafrom eastern Iran and southern Kazakhstan to Indus river ;
winters to UAE and northwestern India
Cilfersik.jpg Finsch's wheatear Oenanthe finschii Anatolia to western Central Asia ; winters to Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
Maghreb wheatear (Oenanthe halophila) Kebili.jpg Maghreb wheatear Oenanthe halophila Maghreb
Les oiseaux d'Egypte - panoramio - youssef alam (1).jpg Mourning wheatear Oenanthe lugensMiddle East
Basalt wheatear, Oenanthe warriae, Lior Kislev 1.jpg Basalt wheatear Oenanthe warriaebasalt desert of eastern Jordan and southern Syria
Oenanthe xanthoprymna - Kurdish Wheatear, Osmaniye, Turkey 01.jpg Kurdish wheatear Oenanthe xanthoprymna Kurdistan  ; winters to Red Sea and southern Arabian Peninsula
Red Tailed Wheatear.jpg Red-tailed wheatear Oenanthe chrysopygiaIran and Pakistan ; winters to Arabian peninsula and northwestern South Asia
Saharasteinschmaetzer.jpg White-crowned wheatear Oenanthe leucopygaNorth Africa and Middle East
Oenanthe albonigra 91218790.jpg Hume's wheatear Oenanthe albonigraIran, eastern Oman to Indus valley
Black Wheatear - Merzouga Marocco 07 3429 (19400616192).jpg Black wheatear Oenanthe leucuraIberian Peninsula to western Libya and Mauritania
Oenanthe lugentoides.jpg Arabian wheatear Oenanthe lugentoidesArabian Peninsula
Oenanthe lugubris 1.jpg Abyssinian wheatear Oenanthe lugubrismontane East Africa

Behaviour

Wheatears are terrestrial insectivorous birds of open, often dry, country. They often nest in rock crevices or disused burrows. Northern species are long-distance migrants, wintering in Africa.

Fossil record

References

  1. "Muscicapidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  2. Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 121.
  3. Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1883) [1816]. Saunders, Howard (ed.). Vieillot's Analyse d'une nouvelle ornithologie élémentaire (in French). London. p. 43.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. 1 2 Outlaw, R.K.; Voelker, G.; Bowie, R.C.K. (2010). "Shall we chat? Evolutionary relationships in the genus Cercomela (Muscicapidae) and its relation to Oenanthe reveals extensive polyphyly among chats distributed in Africa, India and the Palearctic". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 55 (1): 284–292. Bibcode:2010MolPE..55..284O. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.09.023. PMID   19772925.
  5. Aliabadian, M.; Kaboli, M.; Förschler, M.I.; Nijman, V.; Chamani, A.; Tillier, A.; Prodon, R.; Pasquet, E.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Zuccon, D. (2012). "Convergent evolution of morphological and ecological traits in the open-habitat chat complex (Aves, Muscicapidae: Saxicolinae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 65 (1): 35–45. Bibcode:2012MolPE..65...35A. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.05.011. PMID   22634240.
  6. Sangster, George; Collinson, J. Martin; Crochet, Pierre-André; Knox, Alan G.; Parkin, David T.; Votier, Stephen C. (2013). "Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: ninth report". Ibis. 155 (4): 898–907 [903]. doi: 10.1111/ibi.12091 .
  7. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 280. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. "Wheatear". Merriam Webster Online. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  9. 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.
  10. 1 2 Kessler, E. 2013. Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary. – Hantkeniana, Budapest, 2013, 8: 37–149.