• Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Passerides: Muscicapida: Muscicapoidea
• Distribution: almost worldwide, except Madagascar and Antarctica
• Number of extant genera: 17
• Number of extant species: 194

Traditional genus-level classification of extant and recently extinct (red letters) Turdidae following the AviList checklist v2025. (link) The number of subspecies is given in parentheses. 

[Notes: (1) The phylogenetic arrangement is based on Dantur et al. 2026.]

References

Alström P, Rasmussen PC, Zhao C, Xu J, Dalvi S, Cai T, Guan Y, Zhang R, Kalyakin MV, Lei F, and Olsson U (2016), Integrative taxonomy of the Plain-backed Thrush (Zoothera mollissima) complex (Aves, Turdidae) reveals cryptic species, including a new species, Avian Res. 7, e:1. (free pdf)

Avendaño JE, Arbeláez-Cortés E, and Cadena CD (2011), On the importance of geographic and taxonomic sampling in phylogeography: A reevaluation of diversification and species limits in a Neotropical thrush (Aves, Turdidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 111, 87-97. (abstract)

Batista R, Olsson U, Andermann T, Aleixo A, Ribas CC, and Antonelli A (2020), Phylogenomics and biogeography of the world’s thrushes (Aves, Turdus): new evidence for a more parsimonious evolutionary history, Proc. R. Soc. B 287, e:20192400. (pdf)

Beresford P (2003), Molecular systematics of Alethe, Sheppardia and some other African robins (Muscicapoidea), Ostrich 74, 58-73. (abstract)

Cerqueira PV, Santos MPD, and Aleixo A (2016), Phylogeography, inter-specific limits and diversification of Turdus ignobilis (Aves: Turdidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 97, 177-186. (abstract)

Cibois A, and Cracraft J (2004), Assessing the passerine "Tapestry": phylogenetic relationships of the Muscicapoidea inferred from nuclear DNA sequences, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 32, 264-273. (abstract)

Dantur AG, Bertelli S, Almeida FC, and Arias JS (2026), Reconstructing the global radiation of Turdidae (Aves: Passeriformes) using explicit geographic ranges under two different palaeogeographic scenarios, Cladistics (abstract)

Halley MR, Klicka JC, Clee PRS, and Weckstein JD (2017), Restoring the species status of Catharus maculatus (Aves: Turdidae), a secretive Andean thrush, with a critique of the yardstick approach to species delimitation, Zootaxa 4276, 387-404. (pdf)

Halley MR, Catanach TA, Klicka J, and Weckstein JD (2023), Integrative taxonomy reveals hidden diversity in the Catharus fuscater (Passeriformes: Turdidae) complex in Central and South America, Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 199, 228-262. (abstract)

Klicka J, Vorlker G, and Spellman GM (2005), A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the “true thrushes“ (Aves: Turdinae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 34, 468-500. (abstract) (corrigendum)

Miller MJ, Bermingham E, and Ricklefs RE (2007), Historical biogeography of the New World Solitaires (Myadestes spp), Auk 124, 868-885. (free pdf)

Nagy J, Végvári Z, and Varga Z (2019), Phylogeny, migration and life history: filling the gaps in the origin and biogeography of the Turdus thrushes, J. Ornithol. 160, 529-543. (free pdf)

Nylander JAA, Olsson U, Alström P, and Sanmartín I (2008), Accounting for phylogenetic uncertainty in biogeography: a Bayesian approach to dispersal-vicariance analysis of the thrushes (Aves: Turdus), Syst. Biol. 57, 257-268. (free pdf)

Olsson U, and Alström P (2013), Molecular evidence suggests that the enigmatic Sulawesi endemic Geomalia heinrichi belongs in the genus Zoothera (Turdidae, Aves), Avian Res. 4, 155-160. (free pdf)

Pasquet E, Cibois A, Baillon F, and Erard C (2009), Relationships between the ant-thrushes Neocossyphus and the flycatcher-thrushes Stizorhina, and their position relative to Myadestes, Entomodestes and some other Turdidae (Passeriformes), J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. 37, 177-183. (abstract)

Reeve AH, Blom MPK, Marki PZ, Batista R, Olsson U, Edmark VN, Irestedt M, and Jønsson KA (2022), The Sulawesi Thrush (Cataponera turdoides) belongs to the genus Turdus, Zool. Scr. 51, 32-40. (view pdf)

Sangster G, Alström P, Forsmark E, and Olsson U (2010), Multi-locus phylogenetic analysis of Old World chats and flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly at family, subfamily and genus level (Aves: Muscicapidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 57, 380-392. (abstract)

Voelker G, and Spellman GM (2004), Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA evidence of polyphyly in the avian superfamily Muscicapoidea, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 30, 386-394. (abstract)

Zuccon D, Cibois A, Pasquet E, and Ericson PGP (2006), Nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data reveal the major lineages of starlings, mynas and related taxa, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 41, 333-344. (abstract)