Family Old World Flycatchers and Chats (Muscicapidae)

Least Concern

Eyebrowed Jungle-flycatcher (Vauriella gularis)

Taxonomy

French: Gobemouche bridé German: Weißbrauen-Dschungelschnäpper Spanish: Papamoscas embridado

Other common names: Bornean Robin

Taxonomy:

Rhinomyias gularis

Sharpe

, 1888,

Kinabalu, northern Borneo

V. albigularis, V. insignis, V. goodfellowi and present species all previously regarded as conspecific, but now considered to differ sufficiently to warrant treatment as separate species. The validity of proposed race kamlae (described from Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak)#R has proved impossible to assess, but it is reportedly larger#R. Monotypic.

Distribution:

Mountains of Borneo (including Muratus Mts, in extreme SE#R).

Descriptive notes

15 cm. Medium-sized, plump jungle-flycatcher with reddish-brown upperparts and distinctive supercilium. Forehead to crown, nape and upperparts, including edges of upperwing-... read more

Voice

Largely silent, but has loud churring call in breeding season; sharp “prrrt” alarm.

Habitat

Montane forest, mostly between 1500 m and 2150 m; 900–3300 m on Mt Kinabalu.

Food and feeding

Diet not well known, but includes small insects and seeds. Solitary or, often, in small groups; occasionally with mixed-species flocks.... read more

Breeding

Season Jan–Apr, and fledged young in May. Nest cup-shaped or a large untidy ball of small sticks, moss, dry fern fronds, leaves and... read more

Movements

Resident.

Status and conservation

Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Bornean Mountains EBA. Fairly common or locally common. Recently recorded farther S in Borneo, in Kalimantan,... 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: Vauriella Wolters, 1980

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Previously included in Rhinomyias, which in its traditional form has proved to be rampantly polyphyletic; one study found that type species of present genus (V. insignis) is sister to Heinrichia#R, but denser taxon sampling needed.

See full taxonomic structure and notes