''Emarginata'' 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 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 occur in southern Africa. The three

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the genus were previously placed in the genus ''Cercomela''. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2010 found that ''Cercomela'' was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

and that 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 ...

''Cercomela melanura'' (the

blackstart The blackstart (''Oenanthe melanura'') is a chat (bird), chat found in desert regions in North Africa, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. It is resident bird, resident throughout its range (biology), range. The blackstart is long and ...

) lay in a clade containing members of '' Oenanthe''. A more comprehensive study published in 2012 confirmed the earlier results. In order to create

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

genera the species assigned to ''Cercomela'' were moved into other genera. Three species were placed in the resurrected genus ''Emarginata'' that had been introduced by the English ornithologist

George Ernest Shelley Captain George Ernest Shelley (15 May 1840 – 29 November 1910) was an England, English geologist and ornithologist. He was a nephew of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley was educated at the Lycée de Versailles and served a few years in ...

in 1896. The three species in the genus are: * Sickle-winged chat (''Emarginata sinuata'') * Karoo chat (''Emarginata schlegelii'') * Tractrac chat (''Emarginata tractrac'')

References

Bird genera Birds of Southern Africa {{Muscicapidae-stub