| Black wheatear | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| atMerzouga,Morocco | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Oenanthe |
| Species: | O. leucura |
| Binomial name | |
| Oenanthe leucura (Gmelin, JF, 1789) | |
Theblack wheatear (Oenanthe leucura) is awheatear, a smallpasserinebird in the Old World flycatcherfamilyMuscicapidae. It is found in theIberian Peninsula and western North Africa.
The black wheatear wasformally described in 1789 by the German naturalistJohann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition ofCarl Linnaeus'sSystema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in thegenusTurdus, coined thebinomial nameTurdus leucurus and specified thelocality as Gibraltar.[2] The specific epithet is fromAncient Greekleukouros meaning "white-tailed".[3] Gmelin based his account on the "White-tailed thrush" that had been described and illustrated in 1783 by the English ornithologistJohn Latham in his multi-volume workA General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined a specimen in theLeverian Museum in London.[4] The black wheatear is now placed in the genusOenanthe that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologistLouis Pierre Vieillot.[5]
Twosubspecies are recognised:[5]
This large 16–18 cm long wheatear. The male of this species is all black except a white rump and mainly white tail. The female is similar, but dark brown rather than black. It has a loudthrush-like song.
The similarwhite-crowned wheatear (Oenanthe leucopyga) also breeds in the African part of the black wheatear's range, but the black wheatear has a black inverted "T" on its white tail, whereas white-crowned has only a black centre to its tail. The black wheatear never has a white crown, but young white-crowned wheatears also lack this feature.
It breeds on cliffs and rocky slopes in western northAfrica andIberia. It no longer breeds in southern France.[6] It is largely resident and nests in crevices in rocks laying 3-6 eggs.The food of this wheatear is mainly insects.
_I-Haryana_IMG_8045.jpg) | This article about anOld World flycatcher is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
