Dessonornis Explained

Dessonornis is a genus of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that are found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Taxonomy

The genus Dessonornis was introduced in 1836 by British ornithologist Andrew Smith to accommodate a single species, the white-throated robin-chat, which is therefore considered as the type species.^{[1] [2]} The name Dessonornis is a misspelling, Smith corrected it to Bessonornis in 1840.^[3] The name combines the Ancient Greek bēssa meaning "glen" or "wooded valley" with ornis meaning "bird".^[4] The spelling correction is not recognized by International Ornithologists' Union.^[5]

Species in this genus was previously placed in Cossypha, while phylogenetic studies revealed that they are more closely related to Cichladusa and Xenocopsychus.^[6] In the taxonomic revision to create monophyletic groups, Dessonornis was resurrected with the following species:^[5]

• White-throated robin-chat, Dessonornis humeralis
• Cape robin-chat, Dessonornis caffer
• Archer's ground robin, Dessonornis archeri
• Olive-flanked ground robin, Dessonornis anomalus

Notes and References

1. Book: Smith, Andrew . Andrew Smith (zoologist) . 1836 . Report of the expedition for exploring central Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope, June 23, 1834, Under the Superintendence of Dr. A. Smith . Cape Town . Printed at the Government Gazette Office . 46 .
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1964 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 10 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 50 .
3. Book: Smith, Andrew . Andrew Smith (zoologist) . 1840 . Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa . 2, Aves . London . Smith, Elder . Plate 48, text . The book was published in parts. The part including Plate 48 was published in March 1840. See: Barnard . K.H. . 1950 . The dates of issue of the "Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa" and the "Marine Investigations in South Africa" . Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History . 2 . 6 . 187–189 . 10.3366/jsbnh.1950.2.6.187 .
4. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 134 .
5. Book: Gill . F . D . Donsker . P . Rasmussen . 2023 . IOC World Bird List (v 13.2) . 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2 . 31 January 2024 .
6. Zhao . M. . Gordon Burleigh . J. . Olsson . U. . Alström . P. . Kimball . R.T. . 2023 . A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 178 . 107646 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107646 . 36265831 . free . 2023MolPE.17807646Z .