| Wheatears | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Malenorthern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| 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 | |
Thewheatears/ˈhwiːtɪər/ arepasserinebirds of thegenusOenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of thethrush family, Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in theflycatcher family,Muscicapidae. This is anOld World group, but thenorthern wheatear has established a foothold in easternCanada andGreenland and in western Canada andAlaska.
The genusOenanthe was introduced by the French ornithologistLouis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 withOenanthe leucura, theblack wheatear, as thetype species.[2][3] The genus formerly included fewer species butmolecular phylogenetic studies of birds in the Old World flycatcher familyMuscicapidae found that the genusCercomela waspolyphyletic with five species, including the type speciesC. melanura, phylogenetically nested within the genusOenanthe.[4][5] This implied thatCercomela andOenanthe weresynonyms. The genusOenanthe (Vieillot, 1816) has taxonomic priority overCercomela (Bonaparte, 1856) makingCercomela a junior synonym.[4][6] The genus nameOenanthe was used by Aristotle for an unidentified bird. The word is derived from the Greekoenoē meaning "vine" andanthos meaning "bloom". The bird was associated with the grape harvest season.[7]
Thename "wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is afolk etymology of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.[8]
Most species have characteristic black and white or red and white markings on their rumps or their long tails. Most species are stronglysexually dimorphic; only the male has the striking plumage patterns characteristic of the genus, though the females share the white or red rump patches.
The genus contains 33 species:[9]
| Image | Common Name | Scientific Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern wheatear | Oenanthe oenanthe | Holarctic ; winters to Sub-Saharan Africa |
 | Atlas wheatear | Oenanthe seebohmi | Maghreb ; winters in westernSahel |
.jpg) | Capped wheatear | Oenanthe pileata | southern Sub-Saharan Africa |
| - | Buff-breasted wheatear | Oenanthe bottae | Asir Mountains |
 | Rusty-breasted wheatear | Oenanthe Renata | Ethiopian Highlands |
_male%2c_non-breeding.jpg) | Isabelline wheatear | Oenanthe isabellina | central-southern Eurasia ; winters to Sub-Saharan, Africa, Middle east and South Asia |
| - | Heuglin's wheatear | Oenanthe heuglinii | northern Sub-Saharan Africa |
 | Hooded wheatear | Oenanthe monacha | Middle- ast |
_(8079430894).jpg) | Desert wheatear | Oenanthe deserti | Maghreb and central Asia ; winters to North Africa, Middle East and South Asia |
 | Western black-eared wheatear | Oenanthe hispanica | western Mediterranean ; winters to western Sahel |
_(8079431820).jpg) | Pied wheatear | Oenanthe pleschanka | central Asia ; winters to East Africa |
.jpg) | Eastern black-eared wheatear | Oenanthe melanoleuca | eastern Mediterranean ; winters to eastern Sahel |
 | Cyprus wheatear | Oenanthe cypraica | Cyprus |
 | White-fronted black chat | Oenanthe albifrons | Sudan (region) |
| - | Somali wheatear | Oenanthe phillipsi | Horn of Africa |
_male_Kebili.jpg) | Red-rumped wheatear | Oenanthe moesta | Morocco to Jordan ; partly winters to eastern Saudi Arabia |
 | Blackstart | Oenanthe melanura | Sahel and Red Sea region |
 | Familiar chat | Oenanthe familiaris | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| - | Brown-tailed rock chat | Oenanthe scotocerca | Chad, western Sudan and Horn of Africa |
| - | Sombre rock chat | Oenanthe dubia | montane desert of central Ethiopia |
_%25E0%25A4%2595%25E0%25A5%2588%25E0%25A4%25B2%25E0%25A5%258B_%25E0%25A4%25B0%25E0%25A4%25AC%25E0%25A4%25BF%25E0%25A4%25A8_1.jpg) | Brown rock chat | Oenanthe fusca | northern South Asia |
_male.jpg) | Variable wheatear | Oenanthe picata | from eastern Iran and southern Kazakhstan toIndus river ; winters to UAE and northwestern India |
 | Finsch's wheatear | Oenanthe finschii | Anatolia to western Central Asia ; winters to Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan |
_Kebili.jpg) | Maghreb wheatear | Oenanthe halophila | Maghreb |
.jpg) | Mourning wheatear | Oenanthe lugens | Middle East |
 | Basalt wheatear | Oenanthe warriae | basalt desert of eastern Jordan and southern Syria |
 | Kurdish wheatear | Oenanthe 'xanthoprymna' | Kurdistan ; winters to Red Sea and southern Arabian Peninsula |
 | Red-tailed wheatear | Oenanthe chrysopygia | Iran and Pakistan ; winters to Arabian peninsula and northwestern South Asia |
 | White-crowned wheatear | Oenanthe leucopyga | North Africa and Middle East |
 | Hume's wheatear | Oenanthe albonigra | Iran, eastern Oman to Indus valley |
.jpg) | Black wheatear | Oenanthe leucura | Iberian Peninsula to western Libya and Mauritania |
 | Arabian wheatear | Oenanthe lugentoides | Arabian Peninsula |
 | Abyssinian wheatear | Oenanthe lugubrious | montane East Africa |
Wheatears are terrestrial insectivorousbirds of open, often dry, country. They often nest in rock crevices or disused burrows. Northern species are long-distancemigrants, wintering inAfrica.
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