''Cossypha'' are small insectivorous

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s, with most species called robin-chats. They were formerly in the thrush family

Turdidae The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycat ...

, but are now more often treated as part of the

Old World flycatcher 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 Norther ...

Muscicapidae. These are

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n woodland dwelling species, but some have become adapted to sites around human habitation. The name ''Cossypha'' for the genus was introduced by the Irish zoologist

Nicholas Aylward Vigors Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Ireland, Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow on 17 ...

in 1825. The word comes from the

Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

''kossuphos'' for a blackbird or thrush. The genus contains the following species: *

Mountain robin-chat The mountain robin-chat (''Cossypha isabellae'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in the Cameroonian Highlands forests. Its natural habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, phys ...

, ''Cossypha isabellae'' * Archer's ground robin, ''Cossypha archeri'' * Olive-flanked ground robin, ''Cossypha anomala'' *

Cape robin-chat The Cape robin-chat (''Cossypha caffra'') is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It has a disjunct range from South Sudan to South Africa. The locally familiar and confiding species has colonized and benefited ...

, ''Cossypha caffra'' * White-throated robin-chat, ''Cossypha humeralis'' *

Grey-winged robin-chat The grey-winged robin-chat or grey-winged akalat (''Cossypha polioptera'') is a bird in the family Muscicapidae.Collar, N. (2019)"Grey-winged Akalat (''Sheppardia polioptera'')" In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A. & de Ju ...

, ''Cossypha polioptera'' * Blue-shouldered robin-chat, ''Cossypha cyanocampter'' *

Rüppell's robin-chat Rüppell's robin-chat (''Cossypha semirufa'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae, that is native to the Afrotropics. It is named for the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell. Description It is a smaller version of the White-browed robin ...

, ''Cossypha semirufa'' * White-browed robin-chat, ''Cossypha heuglini'' *

Red-capped robin-chat The red-capped robin-chat or Natal robin (''Cossypha natalensis'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the C ...

, ''Cossypha natalensis'' *

Chorister robin-chat The chorister robin-chat (''Cossypha dichroa'') (previously known as the chorister robin) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in South Africa and Eswatini. Its distribution stretches from the southern Western Cape through ...

, ''Cossypha dichroa'' *

White-headed robin-chat The white-headed robin-chat (''Cossypha heinrichi'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in northern Angola and the western Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is threatened by habitat loss, and its IUCN conservation sta ...

, ''Cossypha heinrichi'' *

Snowy-crowned robin-chat The snowy-crowned robin-chat (''Cossypha niveicapilla'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is also known as the snowy-headed robin-chat. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, C ...

, ''Cossypha niveicapilla'' *

White-crowned robin-chat The white-crowned robin-chat (''Cossypha albicapilla'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ni ...

, ''Cossypha albicapilla''

References

Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors {{Muscicapidae-stub