Rock thrush
| Rock thrushes | |
|---|---|
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| Male short-toed rock thrush (Monticola brevipes) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Monticola F. Boie, 1822 |
| Type species | |
| Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus, 1766
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| Species | |
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See text | |
| Synonyms | |
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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
[edit]The genus Monticola was erected by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie in 1822. Boie listed two species, saxatilis and cyanus but did not designate the type species.[1] In 1826 Boie introduced a different genus name, Petrocossyphus, containing a single species, Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus.[2] This new genus name was not accepted by other ornithologists as according to Hugh Edwin Strickland: "The former name ought therefore to stand, as authors ought no more to alter their own generic names when once published than those of others".[3] The type species of the genus Monticola is Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus, the common rock thrush.[4][5] Monticola is the Latin word for mountain-dweller or mountaineer.[6]
The genus was formerly included in the thrush family Turdidae,[7] but 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.[8][9]
The genus contains the following species:[10]
| Image | Common Name | Scientific Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
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Blue-capped rock thrush | Monticola cinclorhyncha | Himalayas; winters to western and eastern Ghats |
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White-throated rock thrush | Monticola gularis | Manchuria |
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Chestnut-bellied rock thrush | Monticola rufiventris | Himalayas, Patkai and southern China |
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Short-toed rock thrush | Monticola brevipes | arid areas of southwestern Angola and southern Africa |
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Sentinel rock thrush | Monticola explorator | southern Africa |
_male_2.jpg) |
Amber Mountain rock thrush | Monticola erythronotus | Amber Mountain, Madagascar |
,_Ranomafana_National_Park,_Madagascar.jpg) |
Forest rock thrush | Monticola sharpei | Madagascar |
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Benson's rock thrush | Monticola sharpei bensoni | southern-central Madagascar |
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Littoral rock thrush | Monticola imerina | southern coastal Madagascar |
 |
Little rock thrush | Monticola rufocinereus | eastern Afromontane |
.png) |
Common rock thrush | Monticola saxatilis | temperate rocky regions of Palearctic; winters to Africa |
_(27649993912).jpg) |
Blue rock thrush | Monticola solitarius | temperate and elevated areas of Palearctic; winters to Africa, Arabia and Indomalaya |
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Cape rock thrush | Monticola rupestris | southern Africa |
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Miombo rock thrush | Monticola angolensis | Miombo woodlands |
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White-winged cliff chat | Monticola semirufus | Ethiopian Highlands |
Fossil record
[edit]Monticola pongraczi (Pliocene of Beremend, Hungary) [11]
References
[edit]- ^ Boie, F. (1822). "Ueber Classification, insonderheit der europäischen Vogel". Isis von Oken (in German). 10–11. Col. 552.
- ^ Boie, Friedrich (1826). "Generalübersicht der ornithologischen Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen". Isis von Oken (in German). 19. Cols 969–981 [972].
- ^ Strickland, Hugh Edwin (1841). "Commentary on Mr. G.R. Gray's Genera of Birds. 1840 (continued)". Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology. 7: 26-41 [26].
- ^ Gray, George Robert (1847). The Genera of Birds : comprising their generic characters, a notice of the habits of each genus, and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera. Vol. 1. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. p. 220. The title page has 1849. For the publication date see Bruce, Murray D. (2023). "The Genera of Birds (1844–1849) by George Robert Gray: A review of its part publication, dates, new nominal taxa, suppressed content and other details". Sherbornia. 8 (1): 1–93 [18].
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr. (1964). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 135.
- ^ Jobling, James A. "Monticola". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ Kessler, E. 2013. Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary. – Hantkeniana, Budapest, 2013, 8: 37-149.
Further reading
[edit]- 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
[edit]
- Rock thrush videos on the Internet Bird Collection
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