Cercotrichas

Seychelles magpie-robins Copsychus sechellarum, copyright Martin Harvey.

Belongs within: Muscicapidae.

Cercotrichas, the scrub robins, is a genus of insectivorous birds found in Africa and southern Eurasia. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the genus is possibly paraphyletic with regard to the shamas of the genus Copsychus (Burleigh et al. 2015).

<==Cercotrichas Boie 1831 BKB15, B94 [incl. Erythropygia Smith 1836 B94; Cercotrichadinae, Erythropygiinae]
    |  i. s.: ‘Erythropygia’ signata JT12
    |--+--C. coryphaeus BKB15 [=Erythropygia coryphaeus JT12]
    |  `--+--C. quadrivirgata BKB15 [=Erythropygia quadrivirgata JT12]
    |     `--+--C. barbata BKB15 [=Erythropygia barbata JT12]
    |        `--C. leucosticta BKB15 [=Erythropygia leucosticta JT12]
    `--+--+--Trichixos pyrropygus JT12
       |  `--Copsychus Wagler 1827 JT12, B94 [Copsychinae]
       |       |  i. s.: C. pica S66
       |       |--C. pyrropygus BKB15
       |       `--+--C. luzoniensis BKB15
       |          `--+--+--C. cebuensis JT12 [=C. niger cebuensis USDI77]
       |             |  `--C. niger JT12
       |             `--+--C. malabaricus JT12
       |                |    |--C. m. malabaricus L81
       |                |    `--C. m. indicus L81
       |                `--C. stricklandii JT12
       `--+--+--Saxicoloides Lesson 1832 JT12, B94 [incl. Thamnobia Swainson 1832 B94; Thamnobiinae]
          |  |    `--S. fulicatus JT12 [=Copsychus fulicatus BKB15]
          |  `--+--‘Copsychus’ albospecularis JT12
          |     `--+--‘Copsychus’ sechellarum JT12
          |        `--+--‘Copsychus’ saularis JT12 [=Gracula saularis W66]
          |           `--‘Cyornis’ hainanus JT12
          `--+--C. paena BKB15 [=Erythropygia paena JT12]
             `--+--+--C. galactotes BKB15 [=Erythropygia galactotes JT12]
                |  `--C. podobe BKB15
                `--+--C. hartlaubi BKB15 [=Erythropygia hartlaubi JT12]
                   `--C. leucophrys BKB15 [=Erythropygia leucophrys JT12]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[L81] Long, J. L. 1981. Introduced Birds of the World: The worldwide history, distribution and influence of birds introduced to new environments. Reed: Sydney.

[S66] Schlegel, H. 1866. Communication from, on mammals and birds collected in Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 419–426.

[USDI77] USDI (United States Department of the Interior). 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.

[W66] Walden, A. 1866. Notes on birds collected in Tennasserim and in the Andaman Islands. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 537–556.