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Emarginata
''Emarginata'' is a genus of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in southern Africa. The three species in the genus were previously placed in the genus ''Cercomela''. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that ''Cercomela'' was polyphyletic and that the type species ''Cercomela melanura'' (the blackstart) lay in a clade containing members of '' Oenanthe''. A more comprehensive study published in 2012 confirmed the earlier results. In order to create monophyletic genera the species assigned to ''Cercomela'' were moved into other genera. Three species were placed in the resurrected genus ''Emarginata'' that had been introduced by the English ornithologist George Ernest Shelley in 1896. The three species in the genus are: * Sickle-winged chat The sickle-winged chat or sicklewing chat (''Emarginata sinuata'') is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae endemic to southern Africa. It is a common res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sickle-winged Chat
The sickle-winged chat or sicklewing chat (''Emarginata sinuata'') is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae endemic to southern Africa. It is a common resident breeder in South Africa and Lesotho, and is also found in southernmost areas of Botswana and Namibia. Its habitat is Karoo scrub, short grassland, and barren sandy or stony areas. In western coastal areas, it also occurs on agricultural land. Taxonomy The first formal description of the sickle-winged chat was by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1858 under the binomial name ''Luscinia sinuata''. The species was subsequently placed in the genus ''Cercomela'' introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. It was moved to the current genus, '' Emarginata'', after molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2010 and 2012 found that ''Cercomela'' was polyphyletic. The specific epithet ''sinuata'' is the Latin for "curved". There are 3 subspecies: * ''E. s. hypernephela'' — L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tractrac Chat
The tractrac chat (''Emarginata tractrac'') is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is a common resident breeder in southernmost Angola, western Namibia and western South Africa. Its habitat is Karoo and desert scrub, hummock dunes and gravel plains. Taxonomy The tractrac chat was illustrated and described by the French naturalist François Levaillant in Volume 4 of his ''Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique'' published in 1805. He named the bird, "Le tractrac", an onomatopoeia based on its call. The first formal description of the tractrac chat was by the English publisher John Wilkes in 1817 under the binomial name ''Motacilla tractrac''. The species was subsequently placed in the genus ''Cercomela'' introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. It was moved to its current genus, ''Emarginata'', after molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2010 and 2012 found that ''Cercomela'' was polyphyletic. There are 5 subspecie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muscicapidae
The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Northern Wheatear (''Oenanthe oenanthe''), found also in North America. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The family includes 344 species and is divided into 51 genera. Taxonomy The name Muscicapa for the family was introduced by the Scottish naturalist John Fleming in 1822. The word had earlier been used for the genus ''Muscicapa'' by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Muscicapa comes from the Latin ''musca'' meaning a fly and '' capere'' to catch. In 1910 the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert found it impossible to define boundaries between the three families Muscicapidae, Sylviidae (Old World warblers) and Turdidae (thrushes). He therefore tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Ernest Shelley
Captain George Ernest Shelley (15 May 1840 – 29 November 1910) was an English geologist and ornithologist. He was a nephew of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley was educated at the Lycée de Versailles and served a few years in the Grenadier Guards. His books included ''A Monograph of the Cinnyridae, or Family of Sun Birds'' (1878), ''A Handbook to the Birds of Egypt'' (1872) and ''The Birds of Africa'' (5 volumes, 1896–1912) illustrated by J. G. Keulemans Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (J. G. Keulemans) (8 June 1842 – 29 March 1912) was a Dutch bird illustrator. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating many of the best-known ornithology books of the nineteenth century. Bi .... (with bibliography of publications by G. E. Shelley) References External links * Illustrations appearing in Handbook to the Birds of Egypt 1840 births 1910 deaths English geologists English ornithologists Grenadier Guards officers Place of birth missin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. '' Panthera leo'' (lion) and '' Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. phylogenetic analysis should c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can reproduction, produce Fertility, fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molecular Phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to determine the processes by which diversity among species has been achieved. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree. Molecular phylogenetics is one aspect of molecular systematics, a broader term that also includes the use of molecular data in taxonomy and biogeography. Molecular phylogenetics and molecular evolution correlate. Molecular evolution is the process of selective changes (mutations) at a molecular level (genes, proteins, etc.) throughout various branches in the tree of life (evolution). Molecular phylogenetics makes inferences of the evolutionary relationships that arise due to molecular evolution and results in the construction of a phylogenetic tree. History The theoretical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of convergent evolution. The arrangement of the members of a polyphyletic group is called a polyphyly .. ource for pronunciation./ref> It is contrasted with monophyly and paraphyly. For example, the biological characteristic of warm-bloodedness evolved separately in the ancestors of mammals and the ancestors of birds; "warm-blooded animals" is therefore a polyphyletic grouping. Other examples of polyphyletic groups are algae, C4 photosynthetic plants, and edentates. Many taxonomists aim to avoid homoplasies in grouping taxa together, with a goal to identify and eliminate groups that are found to be polyphyletic. This is often the stimulus for major revisions of the classification schemes. Researchers concerned more with ecology than with syste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Type Species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen(s). Article 67.1 A similar concept is used for suprageneric groups and called a type genus. In botanical nomenclature, these terms have no formal standing under the code of nomenclature, but are sometimes borrowed from zoological nomenclature. In botany, the type of a genus name is a specimen (or, rarely, an illustration) which is also the type of a species name. The species name that has that type can also be referred to as the type of the genus name. Names of genus and family ranks, the various subdivisions of those ranks, and some higher-rank names based on genus names, have such types. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackstart
__NOTOC__ The blackstart (''Oenanthe melanura'') is a chat found in desert regions in North Africa, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. It is resident throughout its range. The blackstart is 14 cm long and is named for its black tail, which is frequently fanned; the rest of its plumage is bluish-grey or grey-brown (North African races being browner, Middle Eastern races bluer). The sexes are similar. The song is a clear melancholy whistle: ''CHURlee...TRUloo...CHURlee...TRUlur...'', with short phrases from the song used as a call. The habitats of blackstarts are rocky deserts and mountain slopes; they nest in rock crevices lay 3–4 eggs. They feed on insects, taken mainly on the ground. The blackstart is a confident species, unafraid of people. Taxonomy The first formal description of the blackstart was by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1824 under the binomial name ''Saxicola melanura''. The blackstart was included as the type species in the ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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