Tychaedon
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tychaedon is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. It contains species that were formerly placed in the genus Cercotrichas.
.jpg)
| Tychaedon | |
|---|---|
| |
| Bearded scrub robin (Tychaedon quadrivirgata) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Tychaedon Richmond, 1917 |
| Type species | |
| Cossypha signata Sundevall, 1850 | |
Taxonomy
The species now placed in this genus were previously placed in the genus Cercotrichas. A molecular phylogenetic study of the family Muscicapidae published in 2023 found that Cercotrichas was paraphyletic.[1] In the rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, some species were moved to the resurrected genus Tychaedon.[2] This genus had been erected in 1917 by the American ornithologist Charles Wallace Richmond as a replacement name for Aedonopsis that had been introduced by Richard Bowdler Sharpe 1883. The type species is Cossypha signata Sundevall, 1850, the brown scrub robin.[3][4] The genus name Tychaedon combines Ancient Greek τυχη/tukhē meaning "chance" or "luck" with αηδων/aēdōn, αηδονος/aēdonos meaning "nightingale" or "songstress".[5]
These are African species of open woodland or scrub, that nest in bushes or on the ground.
The genus contains the following five species:[2]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Karoo scrub robin | Tychaedon coryphoeus | southern Africa |
 | Brown scrub robin | Tychaedon signata | forests of eastern southern Africa |
.jpg) | Forest scrub robin | Tychaedon leucosticta | sparsely present throughout the African tropical rainforest |
| Bearded scrub robin | Tychaedon quadrivirgata | East Africa |
.jpg) | Miombo scrub robin | Tychaedon barbata | miombo |