''Dessonornis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of birds in the

Old World flycatcher The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

that are found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Dessonornis'' was introduced in 1836 by British ornithologist Andrew Smith to accommodate a single species, the white-throated robin-chat, which is therefore considered as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

. The name ''Dessonornis'' is a misspelling, Smith corrected it to ''Bessonornis'' in 1840. The name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''bēssa'' meaning "glen" or "wooded valley" with ''ornis'' meaning "bird". The spelling correction is not recognized by

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", ...

. Species in this genus was previously placed in ''

Cossypha ''Cossypha'' are small insectivorous birds, with most species called robin-chats. They were formerly in the thrush (bird), thrush family Turdidae, but are now more often treated as part of the Old World flycatcher Muscicapidae. These are African ...

'', while phylogenetic studies revealed that they are more closely related to ''

Cichladusa The palm thrushes are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus ''Cichladusa''. They were formerly in the thrush family Turdidae, but are now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher Muscicapidae. These are tropical African species which ...

'' and '' Xenocopsychus''. In the taxonomic revision to create monophyletic groups, ''Dessonornis'' was resurrected with the following species: * White-throated robin-chat, ''Dessonornis humeralis'' * Cape robin-chat, ''Dessonornis caffer'' * Archer's ground robin, ''Dessonornis archeri'' * Olive-flanked ground robin, ''Dessonornis anomalus''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q23889505 Muscicapidae Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist) Birds described in 1836 Bird genera