The ''Geokichla'' thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the

thrush Thrush may refer to: Birds * Thrush (bird), any of the birds in the family Turdidae ** List of thrush species * Antthrushes, the Formicariidae family of birds * Dohrn's warbler, or Dohrn's thrush-babbler, a species ''Sylvia dohrni'' in the famil ...

family,

Turdidae The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flyca ...

. They were traditionally listed in the '' Zoothera'', but

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 ...

studies published in 2008 led to their placement in a separate genus.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Geokichla'' was introduced in 1836 by the German naturalist

Salomon Müller Salomon Müller (7 April 1804 – 29 December 1864) was a German natural history, naturalist. He was born in Heidelberg, and died in Freiburg im Breisgau. Müller was the son of a saddler in Heidelberg. Along with Heinrich Boie and Heinrich Christi ...

with ''Turdus citrinus'' Latham, 1790, the

orange-headed thrush The orange-headed thrush (''Geokichla citrina'') is a bird in the thrush family. It is common in well-wooded areas of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Most populations are resident. The species shows a preference for shady damp areas ...

, 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 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 ...

''geō-'' meaning "ground-" with ''kikhlē'' meaning "thrush. These species were formerly placed in the genus '' Zoothera''.

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 ...

analysis by Gary Voelker and collaborators published in 2008 found that ''Zoothera'' 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 ...

. 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 21 species were moved from ''Zoothera'' to the resurrected genus ''Geokichla''.

List of species

The genus contains the following 21 species: *

Siberian thrush The Siberian thrush (''Geokichla sibirica'') is a member of the thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Geokichla'' comes from Ancient Greek ''geo-'', "ground-" and ''kikhle'', " thrush". The specific ''sibirica'' is Latin for Siberia. It br ...

, ''Geokichla sibirica'' *

Pied thrush The pied thrush (''Geokichla wardii'') is a member of the thrush (bird), thrush family found in India and Sri Lanka. The males are conspicuously patterned in black and white while the females are olive brown and speckled. They breed in the cent ...

, ''Geokichla wardii'' * Grey ground thrush, ''Geokichla princei'' *

Black-eared ground thrush The black-eared ground thrush (''Geokichla camaronensis'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or trop ...

, ''Geokichla camaronensis'' *

Spotted ground thrush The spotted ground thrush (''Geokichla guttata'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, and possibly Mozambique. Description These birds ar ...

, ''Geokichla guttata'' - formerly ''G. fischeri'' *

Spot-winged thrush The spot-winged thrush, (''Geokichla spiloptera''), is an Asian thrush, a group within the large thrush family Turdidae. It is an endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka. Description Adults of this medium-sized thrush, which measures in total l ...

, ''Geokichla spiloptera'' * Crossley's ground thrush, ''Geokichla crossleyi'' *

Abyssinian ground thrush The Abyssinian ground thrush (''Geokichla piaggiae'') is a thrush from the family Turdidae which is native to north-east Africa where it lives at high altitude in montane forests. Its binomial nomenclature honors the 19th century Italian explorer ...

, ''Geokichla piaggiae'' ** Kivu ground thrush, ''Geokichla piaggiae tanganjicae'' * Oberländer's ground thrush, ''Geokichla oberlaenderi'' * Orange ground thrush, ''Geokichla gurneyi'' *

Orange-headed thrush The orange-headed thrush (''Geokichla citrina'') is a bird in the thrush family. It is common in well-wooded areas of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Most populations are resident. The species shows a preference for shady damp areas ...

, ''Geokichla citrina'' * Buru thrush, ''Geokichla dumasi'' * Seram thrush, ''Geokichla joiceyi'' * Orange-sided thrush, ''Geokichla peronii'' *

Slaty-backed thrush The slaty-backed thrush (''Geokichla schistacea'') is a passerine bird in the Asian thrush genus. It is found in the Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about ...

, ''Geokichla schistacea'' *

Chestnut-capped thrush The chestnut-capped thrush (''Geokichla interpres'') lives in forests and woodlands of Southeast Asia. It is a songbird species in the family Turdidae. Traditionally, it has included the Enggano thrush as a subspecies, but a recent review recomm ...

, ''Geokichla interpres'' *

Enggano thrush The Enggano thrush (''Geokichla leucolaema'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to rainforests on Enggano Island off Sumatra in Indonesia. It has traditionally been considered a subspecies of the chestnut-capped thrush. ...

, ''Geokichla leucolaema'' *

Chestnut-backed thrush The chestnut-backed thrush (''Geokichla dohertyi'') is a ground thrush (bird), thrush species endemic to Lombok, Timor and the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. The species is rapidly declining and it is already extinct on Lombok and possibly on ...

, ''Geokichla dohertyi'' *

Ashy thrush The ashy thrush (''Geokichla cinerea''), also known as the ashy ground-thrush, is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to the Philippines in Luzon and Mindoro. Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests and or tr ...

, ''Geokichla cinerea'' * Red-backed thrush, ''Geokichla erythronota'' * Red-and-black thrush, ''Geokichla mendeni'' A subfossil specimen of a ground thrush has been found on the island of

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

: * Mauritius ground thrush, ''Geokichla longitarsus''

References

External links

Asian thrush videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from=Q26030 Bird genera Taxa named by Salomon Müller