The ''Ficedula'' flycatchers are a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of Old World flycatchers. The genus is the largest in the family, containing around thirty species. They have sometimes been included in the genus '' Muscicapa''. The genus is found in Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species are highly migratory, whereas other species are sedentary.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus was introduced by the French naturalist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher. Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history; his published wo ...

in 1760 with the

European pied flycatcher The European pied flycatcher (''Ficedula hypoleuca'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. One of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers, it hybridizes to a limited extent with the collared ...

(''Ficedula hypoleuca'') as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...

. The genus name is from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

and refers to a small fig-eating bird (''ficus'', "fig") supposed to change into the

blackcap The Eurasian blackcap (''Sylvia atricapilla''), usually known simply as the blackcap, is a common and widespread typical warbler. It has mainly olive-grey upperparts and pale grey underparts, and differences between the five subspecies are sm ...

in winter.

Extant species

The genus contains the following species: *

Rusty-tailed flycatcher The rusty-tailed flycatcher (''Ficedula ruficauda'') is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found mainly in the northern regions of the Indian Subcontinent and some parts of southwest India, as well as pockets of ...

(''Ficedula ruficauda'') *

(''Ficedula hypoleuca'') *

Atlas pied flycatcher Atlas pied flycatcher or Atlas flycatcher (''Ficedula speculigera'') is a bird in an Old World flycatcher family, one of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers; it is endemic as a breeding species to North-west Africa ...

(''Ficedula speculigera'') *

Collared flycatcher The collared flycatcher (''Ficedula albicollis'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family, one of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers. It breeds in southeast Europe (isolated populations are p ...

(''Ficedula albicollis'') *

Semicollared flycatcher The semicollared flycatcher (''Ficedula semitorquata'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family, one of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers. It breeds in montane forests of the southeastern cor ...

(''Ficedula semitorquata'') *

Yellow-rumped flycatcher The yellow-rumped flycatcher (''Ficedula zanthopygia''), also known as Korean flycatcher or tricolor flycatcher, is a species of flycatcher found in eastern Asia. A distinctive species with almost no look-alike other than the narcissus flycatcher ...

(''Ficedula zanthopygia'') * Narcissus flycatcher (''Ficedula narcissina'') *

Ryukyu flycatcher The Ryukyu flycatcher (''Ficedula owstoni'') is a passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is native to Okinawa and Ryukyu in Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East As ...

(''Ficedula owstoni'') *

Green-backed flycatcher The green-backed flycatcher (''Ficedula elisae'') is a bird in the family Muscicapidae, which contains the Old World flycatchers. It was long considered to a subspecies of the narcissus flycatcher, but morphological and acoustical differences bet ...

(''Ficedula elisae'') *

Mugimaki flycatcher The mugimaki flycatcher (''Ficedula mugimaki'') is a small passerine bird of eastern Asia belonging to the genus ''Ficedula'' in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. The name "mugimaki" comes from Japanese and means "wheat-sower". The b ...

(''Ficedula mugimaki'') *

Slaty-backed flycatcher The slaty-backed flycatcher (''Ficedula erithacus'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowla ...

(''Ficedula erithacus'') *

Pygmy flycatcher The pygmy flycatcher (''Ficedula hodgsoni''), also known as the pygmy blue-flycatcher, is a bird species of the family Muscicapidae. Distribution and habitat It is found in Bhutan, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Ne ...

(''Ficedula hodgsoni'') * Rufous-chested flycatcher (''Ficedula dumetoria'') *

Tanimbar flycatcher The Tanimbar flycatcher (''Ficedula riedeli'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found on the Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of ...

(''Ficedula riedeli'') * Rufous-gorgeted flycatcher (''Ficedula strophiata'') * Red-breasted flycatcher (''Ficedula parva'') *

Taiga flycatcher The taiga flycatcher or red-throated flycatcher (''Ficedula albicilla'') is a migratory bird in the family Muscicapidae. The species was Species description, first described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. The female has brown upper parts with a b ...

(''Ficedula albicilla'') *

Kashmir flycatcher The Kashmir flycatcher (''Ficedula subrubra'') is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. At one time it was considered to be a subspecies of the red-breasted flycatcher, ''Ficedula parva''. This is an insectivorous speci ...

(''Ficedula subrubra'') * Snowy-browed flycatcher (''Ficedula hyperythra'') *

Little slaty flycatcher The little slaty flycatcher (''Ficedula basilanica'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found on the islands of Mindanao, Leyte and Samar in the Philippines. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. It is threa ...

(''Ficedula basilanica'') * Rufous-throated flycatcher (''Ficedula rufigula'') * Cinnamon-chested flycatcher (''Ficedula buruensis'') * Damar flycatcher (''Ficedula henrici'') * Sumba flycatcher (''Ficedula harterti'') * Palawan flycatcher (''Ficedula platenae'') *

Cryptic flycatcher The cryptic flycatcher (''Ficedula crypta'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Philippines only being found in the island of Mindanao. Its natural habitat is tropical moist mid-montane forests from 600 - 1,500 ...

(''Ficedula crypta'') * Bundok flycatcher (''Ficedula luzoniensis'') * Furtive flycatcher (''Ficedula disposita'') * Lompobattang flycatcher (''Ficedula bonthaina'') *

Little pied flycatcher The little pied flycatcher (''Ficedula westermanni'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; k ...

(''Ficedula westermanni'') * Ultramarine flycatcher (''Ficedula superciliaris'') * Slaty-blue flycatcher (''Ficedula tricolor'') * Sapphire flycatcher (''Ficedula sapphira'') * Black-and-orange flycatcher (''Ficedula nigrorufa'') * Black-banded flycatcher (''Ficedula timorensis'')

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Ficedula'': * Indian black-naped blue monarch (as ''Siphia Styani'')

Speciation

A 2015 study on genomic pattern of differentiation, also known as islands of speciation by Burri ''et al.'', in the ''Ficedula'' flycatchers. Islands of differentiation are genomic regions with elevated measures of genetic differentiation. The authors examined island of differentiation within genomes and sought to answer (1) how they are formed and (2) what role they have in speciation. The flycatcher species complex is made up of four sister species and has a broad species range over all of Europe and parts of North Africa. The authors sequenced 200 genomes from 10 populations to an average of 14x coverage. The authors tested two prominent models for the accumulation of islands of speciation, speciation with gene flow and linkage selection. Some of the expected patterns for islands of differentiation forming accumulating under a gene flow model and reduced sequence divergence outside the islands of differentiation compared to the rest of the genome and expansion of the islands of differentiation as reproductive isolation is reinforced during the speciation process. Based on the genomic data, expectations from the speciation with gene flow model were not well supported. Instead there was more support for the linkage selection model for islands of variation model. Such as an inverse correlation between recombination rate and differentiation, low amounts of ancestral variation in low recombining regions, and a positive relationship with nucleotide diversity and recombination rate. Some of the main findings from the study were: *The differentiation landscapes were very similar across the four flycatcher species. *Tests using population genetic parameters to test assumptions indicated that differentiation landscape across the genomes were likely not caused by gene flow. *The signatures for background selection highly outweighed selective sweep signatures.

By reinforcement

'' F. hypoleuca'' ''vis-a-vis'' '' F. albicollis'' are speciating from each other by

reinforcement In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher fr ...

, as evidenced by differences between colouration in

sympatry In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...

versus

allopatry Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

. This is

evidence for speciation by reinforcement Reinforcement is a process within speciation where natural selection increases the reproductive isolation between two populations of species by reducing the production of hybrids. Evidence for speciation by reinforcement has been gathered sinc ...

Description

The flycatchers in the genus ''Ficedula'' are typically small with slender bodies and rounded heads. In many cases they are sexually dimorphic in their

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

, with the males being brightly or strikingly coloured and the females being duller or drabber.