The Rusty-tailed Flycatcher (Muscicapa ruficauda; Ayes: Muscicapidae) is a member of the genus Ficedula

Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships of the avian family Muscicapidae (Old World chats and flycatchers) have historically been enigmatic and remain an active area of study. Widespread instances of non-monophyly resulting from misleading morphological and behavioral similarities have merited numerous taxonomic revisions to the group. Here we report one such instance with regard to the Rusty-tailed Flycatcher Muscicapa ruficauda, which has recently been placed in the newly proposed monotypic genus Ripleyia, due to inferred sister relationship to the genus Muscicapa and related genera (Voelker et al., 2016a). This name was later replaced by Ripleyornis, as it was realized that Ripleyia is a junior homonym of a genus of Mollusca (Voelker et al., 2016b). Using a Bayesian phylogenetic assessment of the Muscicapidae with near-complete taxon sampling of the genus Ficedula for five loci, along with an acoustic comparison of M. ruficauda to a subset of other flycatcher species, we show that this species should be reassigned to the genus Ficedula and accordingly that the names Ripleyia and Ripleyornis are both junior synonyms of Ficedula.

Keywords

Ficedula; Muscicapa; Ripleyia; Ripleyornis; Muscicapidae; Systematics

Published in

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
2016, volume: 102, pages: 56-61
Publisher: ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

SLU Authors

• Alström, Per

  • SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Uppsala University

UKÄ Subject classification

Biological Systematics
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (Methods development to be 10203)
Evolutionary Biology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.05.036

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/77902