Madagascar stonechat explained

The Madagascar stonechat (Saxicola sibilla) is a species of stonechat, endemic to Madagascar. It is a small bird, closely similar to the African stonechat in both plumage and behaviour, but distinguished from it by the more extensive black on the throat and minimal orange-red on the upper breast of the males.^[1]

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Madagascar stonechat in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name Le traquet de Madagascar and the Latin Rubetra Madagascariensis.^[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognized by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.^[3] When, in 1766, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.^[3] One of these was the Madagascar stonechat. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla sibilla, and cited Brisson's work.^[4] The specific name sibilla is from the Latin sibilare "to whistle".^[5] This species is now placed in the genus Saxicola, which was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802.^[6]

The Madagascar stonechat has generally been considered a subspecies of African stonechat (as Saxicola torquatus sibilla^[1]), but recent genetic evidence has shown that it is distinct, more closely related to Reunion stonechat than it is to African stonechat,^[7] on which basis it is now accepted as a distinct species. Three subspecies are recognised.^[8]

External links

• Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the Madagascan stonechat

Notes and References

1. Urquhart, E., & Bowley, A. (2002): Stonechats. A Guide to the Genus Saxicola. Christopher Helm, London.
2. Book: Brisson, Mathurin Jacques . Mathurin Jacques Brisson . 1760 . Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés . 3 . fr, la . Paris . Jean-Baptiste Bauche . 439–440, Plate 24 fig 4 . The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
3. Allen . J.A. . Joel Asaph Allen . 1910 . Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . 28 . 317–335 . 2246/678 .
4. Book: Linnaeus, Carl . Carl Linnaeus . 1766 . Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . 12th . 1, Part 1 . Laurentii Salvii . Holmiae (Stockholm) . la . 337 .
5. Web site: Jobling . J.A. . 2018 . Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Sargatal . J. . Christie . D.A. . de Juana . E. . Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive . Lynx Edicions . 10 May 2018 .
6. Book: Bechstein, Johann Matthäus . Johann Matthäus Bechstein . 1802 . Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte . 216 . Leipzig . Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter . de .
7. Woog . F. . Wink . M. . Rastegar-Pouyani . E. . Gonzalez . J. . Helm . B. . 2008 . Distinct taxonomic position of the Madagascar stonechat (Saxicola torquatus sibilla) revealed by nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA . Journal of Ornithology . 149 . 3 . 423–430 . 10.1007/s10336-008-0290-1 . free .
8. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2018 . Chats, Old World flycatchers . World Bird List Version 8.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 10 May 2018 .