The Ryukyu robin (''Larvivora komadori'') is a bird

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 else ...

to the

Ryūkyū Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, of Japan. The Okinawa robin (''Larvivora namiyei'') previously was considered a subspecies. The specific name ''komadori'' is, somewhat confusingly, the common name of its relative the

Japanese robin The Japanese robin (''Larvivora akahige'') is a small passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae. This species was formerly named ''Erithacus akahige'', or ''Komadori''. Its range extends from the south of the Kuril and Sakhalin Islands througho ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. The Ryukyu robin, together with the

and the

European robin The European robin (''Erithacus rubecula''), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in Great Britain & Ireland, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. About in len ...

, was previously placed in the

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 ...

'' Erithacus'' . A 2006 molecular phylogenetic study found that the two east Asian species were more similar to the Siberian blue robin, at the time in ''

Luscinia ''Luscinia '' is a genus of smallish passerine birds, containing the nightingales and relatives. Formerly classed as members of the thrush family Turdidae, they are now considered to be Old World flycatchers (Muscicapidae) of the chat subfamily ...

'', than to the European robin. In 2010 a large study confirmed this result and also found that ''Luscinia'' was non-monophyletic. The genus ''

Larvivora ''Larvivora'' is a genus of small passerine birds belonging to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in central and eastern Asia. The seven species in this genus were all previously placed in other genera. A large molecular phy ...

'' was therefore resurrected to accommodate a clade containing the Japanese robin, the Ryukyu robin, the Siberian blue robin and several other species that had previously been placed in ''Luscinia''.

References

External links

Ryukyu robin The Ryukyu robin (''Larvivora komadori'') is a bird endemic to the Ryūkyū Islands, of Japan. The Okinawa robin (''Larvivora namiyei'') previously was considered a subspecies. The specific name ''komadori'' is, somewhat confusingly, the co ...

Endemic birds of Japan Endemic fauna of the Ryukyu Islands Birds of the Ryukyu Islands

{{Muscicapidae-stub