The ''Ficedula'' flycatchers are 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 ...

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 ...

s. The genus is the largest in the family, containing around thirty species. They have sometimes been included in the genus ''

Muscicapa ''Muscicapa'' is a genus of passerine birds belonging to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, and therein to the typical flycatchers of subfamily Muscicapinae. They are widespread across Europe, Africa and Asia with most species occurri ...

''. 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 philosophy, natural philosopher. Brisson was born on 30 April 1723 at Fontenay-le-Comte in the Vendée department of western France. Note that page 14 ...

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 bird hybrid, hybridises to a limited extent with th ...

(''Ficedula hypoleuca'') 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 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 spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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

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

in winter.

Extant species

The genus contains the following species:

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 Behaviorism, behavioral psychology, reinforcement refers to consequences that increase the likelihood of an organism's future behavior, typically in the presence of a particular ''Antecedent (behavioral psychology), antecedent stimulus''. Fo ...

, as evidenced by differences between colouration in

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

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 (speciation), Reinforcement is a process within speciation where natural selection increases the reproductive isolation between two populations of species by reducing the production of Hybrid (biology), hybrids. Evidence for speci ...

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 () 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, there can b ...

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