''Muscicapa'' is a

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 nom ...

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

birds belonging to 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 Northe ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Muscicapidae, and therein to the typical flycatchers of subfamily Muscicapinae. They are widespread across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

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 ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

with most species occurring in

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

habitats. Several species are migratory, moving south from Europe and northern Asia for the winter.Sinclair ''et al.'' (2003), Perrins (2004), del Hoyo ''et al.'' (2006) They are small birds, in length. They have a large head, short tail and a flattened

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

, broader at the base. Their plumage is mostly drab brown or grey and rather plain. Young birds tend to be more spotted or mottled. ''Muscicapa'' flycatchers typically feed on flying

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s which are caught by sallying out from an exposed perch. The

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

is usually cup-shaped and built on a tree branch but some African species nest in tree holes.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus was introduced by the French zoologist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher. Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history; his published works ...

in 1760 with the

spotted flycatcher The spotted flycatcher (''Muscicapa striata'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to Siberia, and is migratory, wintering in Africa and south western Asia. It is decl ...

(''Muscicapa striata'') 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 word ''Muscicapa'' comes from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''musca'', a fly and ''capere'', to catch. In 2010 two large molecular phylogenetic studies of species within Muscicapidae showed that ''Muscicapa'' was non-monophyletic. The authors were unable to propose a revised genus as not all the species were sampled. A subsequent study published in 2016 included 37 of the 42 Muscicapini species. It confirmed that ''Muscicapa'' was non-monophyletic and proposed a reorganised arrangement with several new or resurrected genera.

Extant species

There are 26 extant

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 s ...

of ''Muscicapa'' flycatchers:

Extinct species

There are at least two fossil species which are included in this genus: * †''Muscicapa miklosi'' (Late Miocene of Polgárdi, Hungary)Kessler, E. 2013. Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary. – Hantkeniana, Budapest, 2013, 8: 37-149. * †''Muscicapa petenyii'' (Pliocene of Beremend, Hungary)

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Muscicapa'': * Red-backed fairywren (as ''Muscicapa melanocephala'') * Australian golden whistler (as ''Muscicapa pectoralis'') * New Caledonian whistler (as ''Muscicapa caledonica'') * Rufous whistler (xanthetraea) (as ''Muscicapa xanthetraea'') *

Little shrikethrush Little shrikethrush has been split into the following species: * Arafura shrikethrush, ''Colluricincla megarhyncha'' * Variable shrikethrush, ''Colluricincla fortis'' * Waigeo shrikethrush, ''Colluricincla affinis'' * Mamberamo shrikethrush ...

(as ''Muscicapa megarhyncha'') *

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 ''Muscicapa azurea'') * Blue-mantled crested flycatcher (as ''Muscicapa cyanomelas'') * African paradise flycatcher (as ''Muscicapa viridis'') * Mascarene paradise flycatcher (as ''Muscicapa bourbonnensis'') * Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio (as ''Muscicapa sandwichensis'') * Tahiti monarch (as ''Muscicapa nigra'') * † Maupiti monarch (as ''Muscicapa Pomarea'') * Chuuk monarch (as ''Muscicapa Rugensis'') * Spot-winged monarch (as ''Muscicapa guttula'') * Hooded monarch (as ''Muscicapa manadensis'') * Island monarch (as ''Muscicapa inornata'') * Black-faced monarch (as ''Muscicapa melanopsis'') * Golden monarch (as ''Muscicapa chrysomela'') * Frilled monarch (as ''Muscicapa telescopthalmus'') * Shining flycatcher (chalybeocephala) (as ''Muscicapa chalybeocephalus'') * Black-capped bulbul (as ''Muscicapa melanictera'') * Light-vented bulbul (as ''Muscicapa sinensis'') * Yellow-vented bulbul (as ''Muscicapa goiavier'')

Taxonomy and systematics

Extant species

Extinct species

Former species

References

Further reading