Phoenicurus Explained

Phoenicurus is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, native to Europe, Asia and Africa. They are named redstarts from their orange-red tails ('start' is an old name for a tail). They are small insectivores, the males mostly brightly coloured in various combinations of red, blue, white, and black, the females light brown with a red tail.^[1] A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 led to a reorganization of the Old World flycatchers family in which the two species in Rhyacornis and the single species in Chaimarrornis were merged into Phoenicurus.^{[2] [3]}

The genus Phoenicurus was introduced by the English naturalist Thomas Forster in 1817.^[4] The type species (by tautonymy) is the common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus).^[5] The name Phoenicurus is from Ancient Greek φοινιξ (phoinix), "(Phoenician) crimson/purple" (see also Tyrian purple), and ουροσ (-ouros) -"tailed".^[6] The genus contains the following species:^[3]

• Przevalski's redstart (Phoenicurus alaschanicus)
• Eversmann's redstart (Phoenicurus erythronotus)
• Blue-capped redstart (Phoenicurus coeruleocephala)
• Black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
• Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)
• Hodgson's redstart (Phoenicurus hodgsoni)
• White-throated redstart (Phoenicurus schisticeps)
• Daurian redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus)
• Moussier's redstart (Phoenicurus moussieri)
• Güldenstädt's redstart (Phoenicurus erythrogastrus)
• Blue-fronted redstart (Phoenicurus frontalis)
• Plumbeous water redstart (Phoenicurus fuliginosus) (previously in the genus Rhyacornis)
• Luzon water redstart (Phoenicurus bicolor) (previously in the genus Rhyacornis)
• White-capped redstart (Phoenicurus leucocephalus) (previously in the monotypic genus Chaimarrornis)

Fossil record

• Phoenicurus erikai (Pliocene of Csarnota, Hungary).^[7]
• Phoenicurus baranensis (Pliocene of Beremend, Hungary).^[7]

Further reading

• Voelker . G. . Semenov . G. . Fadeev . I.V. . Blick . A. . Drovetski . S.V. . 2015 . The biogeographic history of Phoenicurus redstarts reveals an allopatric mode of speciation and an out-of-Himalayas colonization pattern . Systematics and Biodiversity . 13 . 3 . 296–305 . 10.1080/14772000.2014.992380 . 2015SyBio..13..296V . 85340881 .

Notes and References

1. Book: Collar, N.J. . 2005 . Phoenicurus . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Christie . D.A. . Handbook of the Birds of the World . 10: Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes . Barcelona, Spain . Lynx Edicions . 978-84-87334-72-6 . 769–773 . https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0010unse/page/770/mode/1up . registration .
2. Sangster . G. . Alström . P. . Forsmark . E. . Olsson . U. . 2010 . Multi-locus phylogenetic analysis of Old World chats and flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly at family, subfamily and genus level (Aves: Muscicapidae) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 57 . 1 . 380–392 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.008 . 20656044. 2010MolPE..57..380S .
3. Web site: Gill . Frank . Donsker . David . Chats, Old World flycatchers . World Bird List Version 6.2 . International Ornithologists' Union. 20 May 2016 .
4. Book: Forster, Thomas . Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster . 1817 . A Synoptical Catalogue of British Birds . London . Nichols, Son, and Bentley . 53 .
5. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1960 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 10 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 74 .
6. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 304. .
7. Kessler . E. . 2013 . Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary . Hantkeniana . 8 . 37–149 .