''Sholicola'' 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 lightweigh ...

in the family Muscicapidae that was erected in 2017. They are commonly referred to as sholakilis. The two species placed in this genus

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

montane grassland Montane grasslands and shrublands is a biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The biome includes high elevation grasslands and shrublands around the world. The term "montane" in the name of the biome refers to "high elevation", rather than th ...

and

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

complex known as sholas in southern India: *

Nilgiri blue robin The Nilgiri blue robin (''Sholicola major''), also known as Nilgiri shortwing, white-bellied shortwing, Nilgiri sholakili or rufous-bellied shortwing is a species of passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae endemic to the Shola forests of the h ...

(''Sholicola major'') *

White-bellied blue robin The white-bellied blue robin (''Sholicola albiventris'') or white-bellied sholakili, is a bird of the family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Shola forests of the higher hills of southern India. The Nilgiri blue robin and this species were o ...

(''Sholicola albiventris'') A third species ''Sholicola ashambuensis'' described by the original authors is close to ''Sholicola albiventris'' and may possibly be treated as a subspecies of the latter. They were formerly placed in the genus ''

Brachypteryx ''Brachypteryx'' is a genus of passerine birds containing six species known as shortwings, that occurs in southeast Asia. Shortwings are small birds with long legs, finely pointed bills, short tails and short rounded wings. They are shy elusive ...

'' and thought to be "shortwings". Species in the genus ''Brachypteryx'' show strong sexual dimorphism and because of this misplacement, the two south Indian species were moved to ''

Myiomela ''Myiomela'' is a genus of bird in the family 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 ...

'' by

Pamela Rasmussen Pamela Cecile Rasmussen (born October 16, 1959) is an American ornithologist and expert on Asian birds. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is based at the Michigan State University. She ...

. Molecular phylogeny studies however showed these two species to be flycatchers that foraged close to the ground. A new genus had to be erected as the species are quite distinct from their sister genera ''

Niltava ''Niltava'' (from ''niltau'', Nepali for ''N. sundara'') is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The genus contains the following seven species: * Fujian niltava (''Niltava davidi'') * Rufous-bellied ni ...

'', ''

Cyornis ''Cyornis'' is a genus of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae most of which are native to Southeast Asia. Species The genus contains the following species: * Hainan blue flycatcher (''Cyornis hainanus'') * Pale blue flycatcher ...

'' and '' Eumyias'' from which they diverged about 11 million years ago [(''Sholicola'' is basal in the clade that contains it - ''Sholicola'', (''Cyornis'', (''Niltava'', (''Eumyias'', ''Cyanoptila''))) which is sister to another major clade that includes ''Ficedula'', ''Monticola'', ''Saxicola'', ''Luscinia'', ''Tarsiger'', ''Larvivora'', ''Brachypteryx'' etc.].

References

Sholicola, Bird genera Birds of South India, {{Muscicapidae-stub