Family Old World Flycatchers and Chats (Muscicapidae)

Least Concern

Blackstart (Oenanthe melanura)

Taxonomy

French: Traquet à queue noire German: Schwarzschwanz-Steinschmätzer Spanish: Colinegro común

Taxonomy:

Saxicola melanura

Temminck

, 1824,

Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

Species often given as erlangeri, but that name invalid, as preoccupied. Race ultima individually highly variable, possibly not distinct from airensis. Six subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution

O. m. ultima (Bates, 1933) – E Mali and W Niger, possibly also NE Burkina Faso.

O. m. airensis (E. J. O. Hartert, 1921) – N Niger (Aïr) E to C Sudan, possibly also SW Egypt (Gebel Uweinat)#R.

O. m. melanura (Temminck, 1824) – extreme S Syria (Yarmuk Valley), E & S Israel, Jordan and extreme NE Egypt (Sinai) S to NW and interior C & S Arabia.

O. m. neumanni (Ripley, 1952) – SW Saudi Arabia, W & S Yemen and SW Oman.

O. m. lypura (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) – EC & E Sudan (E from Kordofan), and SE Egypt (Gebel Elba) S to Eritrea and N & EC Ethiopia.

O. m. aussae (Thesiger & Meynell, 1934) – extreme NE Ethiopia, Djibouti and N Somalia.

Descriptive notes

14 cm; 13–18 g. Rather long-legged and slender chat. Nominate race is dull pale blue-tinged grey above, forehead and ear-coverts sometimes washed brownish, with darker... read more

Voice

Song, by male through most of year (infrequently in autumn), a series of short rapid variable... read more

Habitat

Rocky hilly terrain, including dissected subdesert, stony desert with acacia and tamarisk, dry... read more

Food and feeding

Adult insects (including beetles and ants) and caterpillars reported in Middle East; also berries, including Lycium shawii. Food... read more

Breeding

Apr–Jun in Mali and May–Jul in Niger; May in Sudan; Feb–Apr in Ethiopia; May–Jun (probably also Mar–Apr) in... read more

Movements

Mainly sedentary. Possibly only a summer visitor to Gebel Elba, in SE Egypt, and records in N Egypt... read more

Status and conservation

Not globally threatened. Frequent to common. Density along two wadis found to be c. 1 pair/250 m. Common at Tibesti and S to Largeau, in Chad. Locally common in Sudan from... read more

Bibliography

Public comments

Scientific classification

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Muscicapidae

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In past, traditionally treated as an outsize family that also included expanded versions of Sylviidae, Timaliidae and Turdidae; these three were subsequently split off as three separate families, but still in much expanded form as compared to their current treatment. Since publication of HBW, limits of all these families have been dramatically rewritten due to a barrage of occasionally contradictory molecular data. Within present family problems remain, particularly due to incomplete taxon sampling, but near-complete screening to species level has now been attempted for at least a handful of genera (notably Oenanthe and Saxicola), and large elements of consensus have emerged, among them the recognition of four principal lineages, here treated as subfamilies. Most notable development involves transfer of many genera from Turdidae to present family, including Alethe, Cichladusa, Heteroxenicus, Brachypteryx, Heinrichia, Myophonus, Monticola, Thamnolaea, Myrmecocichla, Pogonocichla, Swynnertonia, Stiphrornis, Sheppardia, Cossypha, Xenocopsychus, Irania, Luscinia, Erithacus, Tarsiger, Cercotrichas, Copsychus, Phoenicurus, Saxicola and Oenanthe. Genetic sampling has also revealed extensive paraphyly, with the result that many species have switched genera. Some genera have disappeared completely into synonymy (e.g. Erythropygia), and others have shrunk to just one or two species (e.g. Luscinia), while a few have become substantially larger (e.g. Cercotrichas, Oenanthe).

Subfamily: Saxicolinae

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Apart from Vauriella and Ficedula, all genera previously placed in Turdidae.

Genus: Oenanthe Vieillot, 1816

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Extensively tested in recent molecular studies, where some species complexes show very low (sometimes virtually no) genetic differentiation, making assessment of species limits using such methodology alone extremely difficult#R #R #R #R #R #R; this research has also revealed notable paraphyly with other closely related genera, resulting in: inclusion herein of most species formerly treated in Cercomela, and one hitherto placed in Pentholaea, as well as removal of one species from Oenanthe to Myrmecocichla.

See full taxonomic structure and notes