The mountain robin-chat (''Cossyphicula isabellae'') is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 ...

. It is native to the

Western High Plateau The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

s. 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 2023 found that the mountain robin-chat was

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

to the

white-bellied robin-chat The white-bellied robin-chat (''Cossyphicula roberti'') is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found across the Western High Plateau, Bioko and the Albertine Rift montane forests. Its natural habitats are subt ...

. Based on this result the mountain robin-chat was moved from the genus ''

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 ...

'' to the genus ''

Cossyphicula ''Cossyphicula'' is a genus of passerine birds belonging to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. Taxonomy The genus ''Cossyphicula'' was introduced in 1934 by the German ornithologist Hermann Grote t ...

''.

References

mountain robin-chat Western Afromontane endemic bird species mountain robin-chat mountain robin-chat Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fauna of the Cameroonian Highlands forests {{Muscicapidae-stub