This article is about the old world flycatcher familyMuscicapidae. For the new world Tyrant Flycatcher familyTyrannidae, seeTyrant flycatcher. For other uses, seeFlycatcher.
TheOld World flycatchers are a large family, theMuscicapidae, of smallpasserinebirds restricted to theOld World (Europe,Africa andAsia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species,bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) andnorthern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe), found also in North America. These are mainly small arborealinsectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take theirprey on the wing. The family is relatively large and includes 357 species, which are divided into 57genera.
The name Muscicapa for the family was introduced by the Scottish naturalistJohn Fleming in 1822.[1][2] The word had earlier been used for the genusMuscicapa by the French zoologistMathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.[3] Muscicapa comes from the Latinmusca meaning a fly, andcapere to catch.[4][5]
In 1910, the German ornithologistErnst Hartert found it impossible to define boundaries between the three families Muscicapidae,Sylviidae (Old World warblers) andTurdidae (thrushes). He therefore treated them as subfamilies of an extended flycatcher family that also includedTimaliidae (Old World babblers) andMonarchidae (Monarch flycatchers).[6][7] Forty years later, a similar arrangement was adopted by the American ornithologistsErnst Mayr andDean Amadon in an article published in 1951. Their large family, Muscicapidae, which they termed the "primitive insect eaters" contained 1460 species divided into eight subfamilies.[8] The use of the extended group was endorsed by a committee set up following the Eleventh International Ornithological Congress held in Basel in 1954.[9] SubsequentDNA–DNA hybridization studies byCharles Sibley and others showed that the subfamilies were not closely related to one another. As a result, the large group was broken up into a number of separate families,[10] although for a while most authorities continued to retain the thrushes in Muscicapidae.[11][12] In 1998 theAmerican Ornithologists' Union chose to treat the thrushes as a separate family in the seventh edition of theirCheck-list of North American birds and subsequently most authors have followed their example.[13][14]
Two largemolecular phylogenetic studies of species within Muscicapidae published in 2010 showed that the generaFraseria,Melaenornis andMuscicapa werenon-monophyletic. The authors were unable to propose revised genera as not all the species were sampled and not all the nodes in their phylogenies were strongly supported.[17][19] A subsequent study published in 2016, that included 37 of the 42 Muscicapini species, confirmed that the genera were non-monophyletic and proposed a reorganised arrangement of the species with several new or resurrected genera.[20]
Madagascar magpie-robinCopsychus albospecularis picaSilverbird, monotypic genusEmpidornisTickell's blue flycatcher, genusCyornisAmber mountain rock thrushMonticola sharpei erythronotusEuropean stonechatSaxicola torquatusCyprus wheatearOenanthe cypriaca
Thecladogram below is based on amolecular phylogenetic study of the family by Min Zhao and collaborators that was published in 2023. Some regions of the phylogenetic tree were not strongly supported by the sequence data.[25] Both the genera included and the number of species in each genera are taken from the list of birds maintained byFrank Gill,Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of theInternational Ornithological Committee (IOC).[13]
The appearance of these birds is very varied, but they mostly have weak songs and harsh calls. They are small to medium birds, ranging from 9 to 22 cm in length.[26] Many species are dull brown in colour, but theplumage of some can be much brighter, especially in the males.[27] Most have broad, flattened bills suited to catching insects in flight, although the few ground-foraging species typically have finer bills.[28]
Old World flycatchers live in almost every environment with a suitable supply of trees, from dense forest to open scrub, and even the montane woodland of theHimalayas. The more northerly species migrate south in winter, ensuring a continuous diet of insects.[28]
Depending on the species, theirnests are either well-constructed cups placed in a tree or cliff ledge, or simply lining in a pre-existing tree hole. The hole-nesting species tend to lay larger clutches, with an average of eight eggs, rather than just two to five.[28]
^The ornithologist Dario Zuccon pointed out that when George Sangster and colleagues erected the name "Niltavinae" for the subfamily, they did not provide a description as required by theInternational Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Sangster and colleagues subsequently published a description in 2016.[21][22]
^Dario Zuccon has argued that the correct name for the African forest robins assemblage is Cossyphinae (type genusCossyphaVigors, 1825) as the name predates Erithacinae (G.R. Gray, 1846).[22][24]
^Bock, Walter J. (1994).History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History Issue 222. p. 116.hdl:2246/830.
^Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760).Ornithologie; ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, espéces & leurs variétés. &c (in Latin and French). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche.Vol. 1 p. 32,Vol. 2 p. 357.
^Mayr, E.;Amadon, D. (1951).A Classification of Recent Birds. American Museum Novitates, Number 1496. New York: American Museum of Natural History. pp. 17–19,36–37.hdl:2246/3994.
^Mayr, E.; William, C.G., eds. (1986).Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. v–vi.
^Sibley, C.G.; Monroe, B.L. (1993).A Supplement to Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.ISBN978-0-300-05549-8.
^Clement, P.; Hathway, R. (2000).Helm Identification Guides: Thrushes. London: Christopher Helm. p. 28.ISBN978-07136-3940-7.
^Dickinson, E.C., ed. (2003).The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (3rd ed.). London: Christopher Helm.ISBN978-0-7136-6536-9.
^abcdSangster, 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.Bibcode:2010MolPE..57..380S.doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.008.PMID20656044.
^Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014).The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2, Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, U.K.: Aves Press. pp. 584, 598, 601, 607.ISBN978-0-9568611-2-2.
^Zuccon, D.; Ericson, P.G.P. (2010). "A multi-gene phylogeny disentangles the chat-flycatcher complex (Aves: Muscicapidae)".Zoologica Scripta.39 (3):213–224.doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2010.00423.x.S2CID85963319.
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