Muscicapidae (Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies)

  • Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Passerides: Muscicapida: Muscicapoidea
  • Distribution: Africa, Eurasia, North America
  • Number of extant genera: 57
  • Number of extant species: 352

Traditional genus-level classification of extant Muscicapidae following the AviList checklist v2025. (link) The number of subspecies is given in parentheses. 

[Notes: (1) Kakhki et al. (2023) showed that Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris is embedded in Myrmecocichla. (2) Zhao et al. (2023) showed that: (a) Cossypha is not monophyletic as long as cyanocampter is included; (b) Vauriella is only monophyletic, when goodfellowi is excluded and woodi (ex Leonardina) included; (c) flavirostris (ex Humblotia) is embedded within Muscicapa.]

References

Alström P, Song G, Zhang R, Gao X, Holt PI, Olsson U, and Lei F (2013), Taxonomic status of Blackthroat Calliope obscura and Firethroat C. pectardens, Forktail 29, 94-99. (pdf)

Alström P, Rasmussen PC, Xia C, Gelang M, Liu Y, Chen G, Zhao M, Hao Y, Zhao C, Zhao J, Yao C, Eaton JA, Hutchinson R, Lei F, and Olsson U (2018), Taxonomy of the White-browed Shortwing (Brachypteryx montana) complex on mainland Asia and Taiwan: an integrative approach supports recognition of three instead of one species, Avian Res. 9, e:34. (free pdf)

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

Dong L, Wei M, Alström P, Huang X, Olsson U, Shigeta Y, Zhang Y, and Zheng G (2015), Taxonomy of the Narcissus Flycatcher Fidecula narcissina complex: an integrative approach using morphological, bioacoustic, and multilocus DNA data, Ibis 157, 312-325. (abstract)

Dowsett RJ, Frahnert S, and Dowsett-Lemaire F (2024), A taxonomic revision of Arnot‘s Chat Myrmecocichla arnotti (family Muscicapidae), Ostrich 95, 113-124. (abstract)

Garg KM, Gwee CY, Chattopadhyay B, Ng NS, Prawiradilaga DM, David G, Fuchs J, Le Manh H, Martinez J, Olsson U, Tan Tu V, Chhin S, Alström P,  Lei F, and Rheindt FE (2024), When colors mislead: Genomics and bioacoustics prompt reclassification of Asian flycatcher radiation (Aves: Niltavinae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 193, e:107999. (journal abstract) (author pdf)

Jiang C, Zhu W, Wu S, Zhao X, Mohamed N, and Li B (2025), Comparative mitogenomics, phylogeny, and biogeography of selected species of Saxicola (Aves, Passeriformes), ZooKeys 1249, 69-92. (free pdf)

Kakhki A, Schweizer N, Lutgen D, Bowie RCK, Shirihai H, Suh A, Scheilzeth H, and Burri R (2023), A phylogenomic assessment of processes underpinning convergent evolution in open-habitat chats, Mol. Biol. Evol. 40, e:msac278. (free pdf)

Liu Y, Chen G, Huang Q, Jia C, Carey G, Leader P, Li Y, Zou F, Yang X, Olsson U, and Alström P (2016), Species delimitation of the white-tailed rubythroat Calliope pectoralis complex (Aves, Muscicapidae) using an integrative taxonomic approach, J. Avian Biol. 47, 899-910. (free reading)

Lutgen D, Peona V, Chase MA, Kakhki NA, Lammers F, de Souza SG, Ducrest AL, Burri M, Andriopoulos P, Lukhele SM, Moysi M, Yohannes E, Abbasov A, Albayrak T, Aliabadian M, Auchli N, Bontzorlos V, Christoforou I, Copete JL, Fulco E, Garcia JT, Javakhishvili Z, Kakazou A, Lei F, Liu Y, Paposhvili N, Patchett R, Péter Á, Ritter R, Sándor AD, Schneider F, Shurulinkov P, Sklyarenko S, Stumberger B, Tagiyev A, Uboldi A, Vogiatzis N, Taborsak-Lines F, Gruselius J, Yao L, Peichel CL, Suh A, Gagnaire PA, Kirschel ANG, Schweizer M, Schielzeth H, and Burri R (2025), A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration, Science 390, e:eado8005. (abstract)

Moyle RG, Schilthuizen M, Rahman MA, and Sheldon FH (2005), Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the white-crowned forktail Enicurus leschenaulti in Borneo, J. Avian Biol. 36, 96-101. (free reading)

Outlaw RK, Voelker G, and Bowie RCK (2010), Shall we chat? Evolutionary relationships in the genus Cercomela (Muscicapidae) and its relation to Oenanthe reveals extensive polyphyly among chats distributed in Africa, India and the Palearctic, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 55, 284-292. (abstract)

Robin VV, Vishnudas CK, Gupta P, Rheindt FE, Hooper DM, Ramakrishnan U, and Reddy S (2017), Two new genera of songbirds represent endemic radiations from the Shola Sky Islands of the Western Ghats, India, BMC Evol. Biol. 17, e:31. (free 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)

Sangster G, Alström P, Forsmark E, and Olsson U (2016), Niltavinae, a new taxon of Old World flycatchers (Aves: Muscicapidae), Zootaxa 4196, 428-429 (pdf)

Sangster G, Alström P, Gaudin J, and Olsson U (2021), A new genus for the White-tailed Flycatcher Cyornis concretus (Aves: Muscicapidae), Zootaxa 5072, 599-600. (no abstract available) (link)

Sangster G, Luksenburg, JA, Päckert M, Roselaar CS, Irestedt M, and Ericson PGP (2022), Integrative taxonomy documents two additional cryptic Erithacus species on the Canary Islands (Aves), Zool. Scr. 51, 629-642. (abstract)

Sheldon FH, Lohman DJ, Lim HC, Zou F, Goodman SM, Prawiradilaga DM, Winker K, Braile TM, and Moyle RG (2009), Phylogeography of the magpie-robin species complex (Aves: Turdidae: Copsychus) reveals a Philippine species, an interesting isolating barrier and unusual dispersal patterns in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, JBiogeogr. 36, 1070-83. (abstract)

Stiller J, Feng S, Chowdhury AA, Rivas-González I, Duchêne DA, Fang Q, Deng Y, Kozlov A, Stamatakis A, Claramunt S, Nguyen JMT, Ho SYW, Faircloth BC, Haag J, Houde P, Cracraft J, Balaban M, Mai U, Chen G, Gao R, Zhou C, Xie Y, Huang Z, Cao Z, Yan Z, Ogilvie HA, Nakhleh L, Lindow B, Morel B, Fjeldså J, Hosner PA, da Fonseca RR, Petersen B, Tobias JA, Székely T, Kennedy JD, Reeve AH, Liker A, Stervander M, Antunes A, Tietze DT, Bertelsen M, Lei F, Rahbek C, Graves GR, Schierup MH, Warnow T, Braun EL, Gilbert MTP, Jarvis ED, Mirarab S, and Zhang G (2024), Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes, Nature 629, 851-860. (pdf)

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)

Voelker G, Huntley JW, Peñalba JW, and Bowie RCK (2016), Resolving taxonomic uncertainty and historical biogeographic patterns in Muscicapa flycatchers and their allies, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 94, 618-625. (abstract)

Wei C, Sangster G, Olsson U, Rasmussen PC, Svensson L, Yao CT, Carey GJ, Leader PJ, Zhang R, Chen G, Song G, Lei F, Wilcove DS, Alström P, and Liu Y (2022), Cryptic species in a colorful genus: Integrative taxonomy of the bush robins (Aves, Muscicapidae, Tarsiger) suggests two overlooked species, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 175, e:107580. (free reading)

Zhao M, Burleigh JG, Olsson U, Alström P, and Kimball RT (2023), A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 178, e:107646. (free reading)

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)

Zuccon D, and Ericson PGP (2010), A multi-gene phylogeny disentangles the chat-flycatcher complex (Aves: Muscicapidae), Zool. Scr. 39, 213-224. (abstract)