''Niltava'' (from ''niltau'', Nepali for the

rufous-bellied niltava The rufous-bellied niltava (''Niltava sundara'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tro ...

) 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 ...

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

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 ...

. They are found in found in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

as well as in China. The seven species in the genus are sexually dimorphic. The males have blue upperparts and all except the

large niltava The large niltava (''Niltava grandis'') is a species of bird in the Old world flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. Its natural ...

have orange-rufous underparts. The females are less brightly coloured and have brown upperparts and buffish underparts.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Niltava'' was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist

Brian Hodgson Brian Hodgson (born 1938) is a British television composer and sound technician. Born in Liverpool in 1938, Hodgson joined the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1962 where he became the original sound effects creator for the science fiction programm ...

with the

(''Niltava sundara'') 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 the Nepali word ''Niltau'' for the rufous-bellied niltava. The genus contains the following seven species: *

Fujian niltava The Fujian niltava (''Niltava davidi'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Cambodia, southern China (including Hong Kong), Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland fo ...

(''Niltava davidi'') *

Rufous-bellied niltava The rufous-bellied niltava (''Niltava sundara'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tro ...

(''Niltava sundara'') *

Rufous-vented niltava The rufous-vented niltava (''Niltava sumatrana'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest Montane ecosystems are fou ...

(''Niltava sumatrana'') *

Chinese vivid niltava The Chinese vivid niltava (''Niltava oatesi'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in the eastern Himalayas to southern China. The Chinese vivid niltava was formerly considered conspecific to the Taiwan vivid niltava (''N ...

(''Niltava oatesi'') *

Taiwan vivid niltava The Taiwan vivid niltava (''Niltava vivida'') or small vivid niltava is a bird in the family Muscicapidae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1864. It is endemic to Taiwan. The Chinese vivid niltava (''N. oatesi'') of the Asia ...

(''Niltava vivida'') *

Large niltava The large niltava (''Niltava grandis'') is a species of bird in the Old world flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. Its natural ...

(''Niltava grandis'') *

Small niltava The small niltava (''Niltava macgrigoriae'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae, native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam. Its ...

(''Niltava macgrigoriae'')

References

* Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2006). ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

''. Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Lynx Edicions. . Bird genera Birds of Asia Taxa named by Brian Houghton Hodgson Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Muscicapidae-stub