Schmätzer

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Schmätzer
Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Wheatear ( Oenanthe oenanthe )

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
without rank: Passerida
Superfamily : Muscicapoidea
Family : Flycatcher (Muscicapidae)
Subfamily : Schmätzer
Scientific name
Saxicolinae
Vigors , 1825

The Schmätzer (Saxicolinae) are a subfamily of the flycatcher family (Muscicapidae) within the passerine birds (Passeriformes). The Schmätzer were traditionally assigned to the thrush family (Turdidae). Molecular genetic findings suggest, however, that the Schmätzer are more closely related to the flycatchers.

The Schmätzer are common in the Old World and feed primarily on insects . Most species are native to the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Southeast Asia. The genera, which also occur in Europe, are informally grouped together as the common warbler (Erithacinae). These include Nightingale and relatives ( Luscinia ), redstarts ( Phoenicurus ), Blue Dicks ( Tarsiger ), meadows and wheatear ( Saxicola and Oenanthe ). Sometimes all representatives of the subfamily are referred to as earth singers.

description

The Schmätzer are a little uniform group of relatively small species, which often have a very colorful plumage and slender legs. The song is well developed in some species, but poor in others. According to the insectivore diet, the beak is dainty and slender, in some species beak bristles are developed. The males of some species - for example the black redstart - show a delayed plumage maturation and look like females in the first year of life, although they are already sexually mature.

Systematics

The Schmätzer were traditionally assigned to the thrush family (Turdidae) and placed there as a subfamily next to the real thrushes . However, the findings of DNA hybridization as well as more recent results of the sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene suggest that the Schmätzer are more closely related to the flycatchers (Muscicapidae) than to the thrushes.

The subdivision of the flycatcher family into the actual flycatcher (Muscicapinae) and the Schmätzer (Saxicolinae) currently seems somewhat artificial, some genera seem to be closer to the genera of the other subfamily, possibly the internal system of the flycatchers needs a fundamental revision, if all Relationships are clarified.

The following presentation of the genera essentially follows the Handbook of the Birds of the World , supplemented by the results of more recent molecular genetic studies. These establish that some genera previously assigned to thrushes ( Monticola , Myophonus and Brachypteryx ) are closer to the smackers and the Asian genera Grandala and Cochoa , which were at times attributed to the smackers , are closer to the thrushes.

Genera and species

The subfamily includes about 25 genera and 170 species.

Ruby throat ( Calliope calliope )
Female of the dwarf scissors tail ( Enicurus velatus )
Nest with fledglings of the pied flycatcher ( Ficedula hypoleuca )
Mugimaki flycatcher ( Ficedula Mugimaki )
Blue nightingale ( Larvivora cyane )
Bluethroat ( Luscinia svecica )
Male of Amur chalk ( Monticola gularis ) in simple dress
Mountain wheatear ( Myrmecocichla monticola )
Mediterranean wheatear ( Oenanthe hispanica )
Wheatear ( Oenanthe oenanthe )
Black redstart ( Phoenicurus ochruros ) feeding the young birds
European stonechat ( Saxicola rubicola )
Blue-tailed ( Tarsiger cyanurus )

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b HBV Volume 11 / I, page 14f, see literature
  2. ↑ Armin Landmann: The black redstart . Page 10f, see literature
  3. ↑ zipcodezoo.com: Muscicapidae ( Memento from June 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Gary Voelker, Garth M. Spellman: Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA evidence of polyphyly in the avian superfamily Muscicapoidea . In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , 30 (2): 386-394, February 2004. doi : 10.1016 / S1055-7903 (03) 00191-X .