''Monarcha'' is a genus of

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 lightweig ...

in the family Monarchidae. They are found in Australia and

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus ''Monarcha'' was introduced by naturalists

Nicholas Vigors Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an 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 1785 as fi ...

and

Thomas Horsfield Thomas Horsfield (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American physician and naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the East India Company ...

in 1827 with the black-faced monarch (''Monarcha melanopsis'') as the

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 specime ...

. The genus formerly included many more species. Based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005 nineteen species were moved to the resurrected genus '' Symposiachrus'' and three to ''

Carterornis ''Carterornis'' is a genus of birds in the family Monarchidae that are found in Australia and Melanesia. Taxonomy When the genus ''Monarcha'' was split based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005, 3 species were move ...

''.

Extant species

The genus ''Monarcha'' contains the following nine species: * Island monarch (''Monarcha cinerascens'') * Black-faced monarch (''Monarcha melanopsis'') * Black-winged monarch (''Monarcha frater'') * Bougainville monarch (''Monarcha erythrostictus'') * Chestnut-bellied monarch (''Monarcha castaneiventris'') *

White-capped monarch The white-capped monarch (''Monarcha richardsii''), or Richards' monarch, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Western Province in the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of ...

(''Monarcha richardsii'') * Yap monarch (''Monarcha godeffroyi'') * Tinian monarch (''Monarcha takatsukasae'')

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Monarcha'': *

Black-naped monarch The black-naped monarch or black-naped blue flycatcher (''Hypothymis azurea'') is a slim and agile passerine bird belonging to the family of monarch flycatchers found in southern and south-eastern Asia. They are sexually dimorphic, with the m ...

(as ''Monarcha azurea'') *

Rarotonga monarch The Rarotonga monarch (''Pomarea dimidiata''), also known as the Rarotonga flycatcher or ''kakerori'', is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Cook Islands. Taxonomy and systematics The Rarotonga m ...

(as ''Monarches dimidiatus'') *

Marquesan monarch The Marquesan monarch (''Pomarea mendozae'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to French Polynesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtr ...

(as ''Monarcha mendozae'') *

Black monarch The black monarch (''Symposiachrus axillaris'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is found in New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. T ...

(as ''Monarcha axillaris'') * Black-bibbed monarch (as ''Monarcha mundus'') *

Flores monarch The Flores monarch (''Symposiachrus sacerdotum'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the western half of the island of Flores in Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests betwee ...

(as ''Monarcha sacerdotum'') * Boano monarch (as ''Monarcha boanensis'') * Spectacled monarch (as ''Monarcha trivirgatus'') * Spectacled monarch (Seram) (as ''Monarcha nigrimentum'') * Spectacled monarch (bernsteinii) (as ''Monarcha bernsteini'') * Spectacled monarch (melanopterus) (as ''Monarcha melanoptera'') * Spectacled monarch (albiventris) (as ''Monarcha albiventris'') * Spectacled monarch (gouldii) (as ''Monarcha gouldii'') *

Kai monarch The Kai monarch (''Symposiachrus leucurus''), or white-tailed monarch, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Kai Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by ha ...

(as ''Monarcha leucurus'') *

Tanahjampea monarch The Tanahjampea monarch or white-tipped monarch (''Symposiachrus everetti'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. The scientific name commemorates British colonial administrator and zoological collector Alfred Hart Everett. Taxonomy ...

(as ''Monarcha everetti'') *

Kofiau monarch The Kofiau monarch (''Symposiachrus julianae'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, countr ...

(as ''Monarcha julianae'') * Biak monarch (as ''Monarcha brehmii'') * Manus monarch (as ''Monarcha infelix'') * Mussau monarch (as ''Monarcha menckei'') * Black-tailed monarch (as ''Monarcha verticalis'') * Djaul monarch (as ''Monarcha ateralba'') * Solomons monarch (as ''Monarcha barbata'') * Malaita monarch (as ''Monarcha malaitae'') *

Kolombangara monarch The Kolombangara monarch (''Symposiachrus browni''), or Brown's monarch, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by ...

(as ''Monarcha browni'' or ''Monarcha kulambangrae'') * Kolombangara monarch (nigrotectus) (as ''Monarcha nigrotectus'') * White-collared monarch (as ''Monarcha vidua'' or ''Monarcha viduus'') *

White-eared monarch The white-eared monarch (''Carterornis leucotis''), or white-eared flycatcher, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to north-eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. The whi ...

(as ''Monarcha leucotis'') *

White-naped monarch The white-naped monarch (''Carterornis pileatus'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Indonesia, where it occurs in the Maluku Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Taxonomy ...

(as ''Monarcha pileatus'') * White-naped monarch (buruensis) (as ''Monarcha buruensis'') *

Tanimbar monarch The Tanimbar monarch (''Carterornis castus''), or Loetoe monarch is a bird in the family Monarchidae endemic to Indonesia. It is found in the Tanimbar Islands. Taxonomy and systematics This subspecies was formerly placed in the genus ''Monarcha'' ...

(as ''Monarcha castus'') * Golden monarch (as ''Monarcha chrysomela'') * Golden monarch (aruensis) (as ''Monarcha aruensis'') * Golden monarch (melanonotus) (as ''Monarcha melanonotus'') * Golden monarch (kordensis) (as ''Monarcha kordensis'') * Ochre-collared monarch (as ''Monarcha insularis'') * Shining flycatcher (as ''Monarcha alecto'') * Velvet flycatcher (as ''Monarcha hebetior'')

References

Monarchidae Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Bird genera {{Monarchidae-stub