The nicators are a genus, ''Nicator'', and family, Nicatoridae, of

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds ( Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 50 ...

s endemic to Africa. The genus and family contain three species.

Taxonomy

The systematic affinities of the genus have been a long-standing mystery. The group was originally assigned to the

shrike Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, '' Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also kno ...

s (Laniidae). In the 1920s James Chapin noted the similarities between the nicators and both the

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical ...

s (Pycnonotidae) and the

bushshrike The bushshrikes are smallish passerine birds. They were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the family Malaconotidae, a name that allude ...

s (Malaconotidae). It wasn't until 1943 that

Jean Théodore Delacour Jean Théodore Delacour (26 September 1890 – 5 November 1985) was a French ornithologist and aviculturist. He later became American. He was renowned for not only discovering but also rearing some of the rarest birds in the world. He establish ...

placed the genus with the bulbuls.

Storrs Olson Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021) was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known ...

argued that the genus was more closely related to the bushshrikes, as the nicators lacked the ossification of the nostril found in all other bulbuls. A number of features, including the position of the facial bristles (which are preorbital rather than rictal), their nests and the calls, make the genus unique, and DNA studies have recently suggested that the genus is best treated as a monogeneric

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

. Some authorities, like the Clements Checklist, treat the nicators as a new family, Nicatoridae. The name of the genus is derived from ''nikator'',

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

for conqueror. Within the genus, the western and eastern nicators are considered to form a superspecies and are sometimes treated as the same species.

Species

Description

The nicators are shrike-like birds, in length. The eastern and western nicators are similar in size and larger than the yellow-throated nicator. The males are considerably heavier than the females, for example in the western nicator the males range from , whereas the females only weigh . The yellow-throated nicator is much lighter, ranging from only . The nicators have heavy hooked bills. The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") 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, ...

of the genus is overall olive on the backs, tail and wings, with yellow spotting on the wings, and lighter grey or whitish undersides.

Distribution and habitat

Laniarius vireo - 1700-1880 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - UBA01 IZ16600469, crop

The nicators are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to Sub-Saharan Africa. The western nicator has a mostly continuous distribution from

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣� ...

to eastern

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

and northern

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. The eastern nicator has a discontinuous distribution in East Africa from

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

south to eastern South Africa. The yellow-throated nicator is distributed in central Africa from Cameroon to Uganda. The nicators occupy a wide range of forest and woodland habitats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1093632 Passeriformes Taxonomy articles created by Polbot