Cercotrichas

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = White-browed scrub robin, Cercotrichas leucophrys at Mapungubwe National Park, Limpopo, South Africa (17816564679), crop.jpg

| image_caption = White-browed scrub robin (Cercotrichas leucophrys)

| taxon = Cercotrichas

| authority = F. Boie, 1831

| type_species = Turdus erythropterus Gmelin, 1788=Turdus podobe Müller, 1776

}}

Cercotrichas is a genus of medium-sized insectivorous birds. They were formerly considered to be in the thrush family, (Turdidae), but are more often now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, (Muscicapidae).

Taxonomy

The genus Cercotrichas was introduced in 1831 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie.{{ cite journal | last=Boie | first=Friedrich | author-link=Friedrich Boie | year=1831 | title=Bemerkungen über Species und einige ornithologische Familien und Sippen | journal=Isis von Oken | language=German | at=Cols 538–548 [542]| url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27512960 }} The type species was subsequently designated as Turdus erythropterus Gmelin which is a junior synonym of Turdus podobe Müller, the black scrub robin.{{ cite book | last1=Finsch | first1=Otto | author1-link=Otto Finsch | last2=Hartlaub | first2=Gustav | author2-link=Gustav Hartlaub | date=1870 | title=Die Vögel Ost-Afrikas | language=German | location=Leipzig and Heidelberg | publisher= C.F. Winter'sche Verlagshandlung | pages=249-250 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13999852 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Paynter | editor2-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1964 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=10 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=27 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14486216 }} The genus name Cercotrichas is from Ancient Greek kerkos meaning "tail" and trikhas meaning "thrush".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n97 97]}}.

This genus formerly included additional species. A molecular phylogenetic study of the Muscicapidae by Min Zhao and collaborators published in 2023 found that the genus Cercotrichas was paraphyletic.{{Cite journal | last1=Zhao | first1=M. | last2=Gordon Burleigh | first2=J. | last3=Olsson | first3=U. | last4=Alström | first4=P. | last5=Kimball | first5=R.T. | date=2023 | title=A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=178 | pages=107646 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107646 | doi-access=free }} In the rearrangement to create monophyletic genera five species were moved to the resurrected genus Tychaedon that had been introduced in 1917 by the American ornithologist Charles Richmond.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=February 2025 | title=Chats, Old World flycatchers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 15.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/chats/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=12 March 2025}}

Scrub robins are mainly African species of open woodland or scrub, which nest in bushes or on the ground, but the rufous-tailed scrub robin also breeds in southern Europe and east to Pakistan.

The genus contains the following five species:

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
class="wikitable"
120px	Kalahari scrub robin	Cercotrichas paena	Kalahari Desert to Kaokoveld
120px	Black scrub robin	Cercotrichas podobe	Sahel and montane Arabian Peninsula
120px	Rufous-tailed scrub robin	Cercotrichas galactotes	southwestern Palearctic, Central Asia, Sahel and Horn of Africa
120px	Brown-backed scrub robin	Cercotrichas hartlaubi	sparsely present across central Africa
120px	White-browed scrub robin	Cercotrichas leucophrys	Sub-Saharan Africa (rare in southern Africa and African tropical rainforest)

References

Category:Birds of Africa

Category:Taxa described in 1831

Category:Bird genera