Tarsiger

Tarsiger is a genus of six species of birds in the family Muscicapidae. They are small, mostly brightly coloured insectivorous birds native to Asia and (one species) northeastern Europe; four of the six species are confined to the Sino-Himalayan mountain system.^[1] The genus has sometimes been included within the related genus Luscinia, but the species have been found to form a distinct monophyletic group.^[2]

Tarsiger
Collared bush robin (Tarsiger johnstoniae)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Subfamily:	Saxicolinae
Genus:	Tarsiger Hodgson, 1845
Type species
Tarsiger chrysaeus (golden bush robin) Hodgson, 1845

Taxonomy

The genus Tarsiger was introduced in 1845 by the English naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson with the golden bush robin as the type species.^[3][4] The genus name is from Ancient Greek tarsos, "flat of the foot" and Latin gerere, "to carry".^[5]

The genus contains the following species:^[6]

• White-browed bush robin (Tarsiger indicus)
• Rufous-breasted bush robin (Tarsiger hyperythrus)
• Collared bush robin (Tarsiger johnstoniae)
• Red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus)
• Himalayan bluetail (Tarsiger rufilatus)
• Golden bush robin (Tarsiger chrysaeus)
• Qilian bluetail (Tarsiger albocoeruleus)^[7]

The Himalayan bluetail was formerly treated as a subspecies of the red-flanked bluetail.^[1] It was split on the basis of its more intense plumage colours, and its ecology and behaviour, being a short-distance altitudinal migrant not a long-distance migrant.^[8]

The phylogenetic relationships between the species were determined in a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2022:^[7]

Tarsiger	Rufous-breasted bush robin (Tarsiger hyperythrus) Red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus) Qilian bluetail (Tarsiger albocoeruleus) Himalayan bluetail (Tarsiger rufilatus) White-browed bush robin (Tarsiger indicus) Collared bush robin (Tarsiger johnstoniae) Golden bush robin (Tarsiger chrysaeus)

References

1. Collar, N.J. (2005). "Genus Tarsiger". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D.A. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 10: Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 754–756. ISBN 978-84-87334-72-6.
2. Sangster, G.; Alström, P.; Forsmark, E.; Olsson, U. (2010). "Multi-locus phylogenetic analysis of Old World chats and flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly at family, subfamily and genus level (Aves: Muscicapidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 57 (1): 380–392. Bibcode:2010MolPE..57..380S. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.008. PMID 20656044.
3. Hodgson, Brian Houghton (1845). "Abstract of a paper on Nepalese birds". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 13: 22–37 [28].
4. Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 33.
5. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. p. 379. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
7. Wei, C.; Sangster, G.; Olsson, U.; Rasmussen, P.C.; Svensson, L.; Yao, C.-T.; Carey, G.J.; Leader, P.J.; Zhang, R.; Chen, G.; Song, G.; Lei, F.; Wilcove, D.S.; Alström, P.; Liu, Y. (2022). "Cryptic species in a colorful genus: Integrative taxonomy of the bush robins (Aves, Muscicapidae, Tarsiger) suggests two overlooked species". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 175: 107580. Bibcode:2022MolPE.17507580W. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107580. PMID 35810968.
8. Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Anderton, John C. (2012). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2: Attributes and Status (2nd ed.). Washington D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Lynx Edicions. pp. 393–394. ISBN 978-84-96553-87-3.