The Réunion stonechat (''Saxicola tectes'') is a species of

stonechat ''Saxicola'' (Latin: ''saxum'', rock + ''incola'', dwelling in.), the stonechats or chats, is a genus of 15 species of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World. They are insectivores occurring in open scrubland and grassland with scatte ...

, endemic to the island of

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

. This small passerine bird is common in clearings and open mountain bushlands there up to 2600 metres above the sea level, including in the plains around Piton de la Fournaise.

Description

Overall, the male is black above and white below, but also with a white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

(sometimes absent), half-collar, and greater covert patch, and a variable-sized orange patch on the breast. Females differ from males in being browner above, more buff-toned below, and often lacking the white greater covert patch. The white throat and (usually white) supercilium are the most prominent external differences from the African stonechat ''S. torquatus'', which has a wholly black head including the throat and supercilium.Urquhart, E., & Bowley, A. (2002): ''Stonechats. A Guide to the Genus Saxicola''. Christopher Helm, London.

Taxonomy and etymology

It is a member of the common stonechat superspecies, but it is distinct, together with its closest relative the Madagascar stonechat ''S. sibilla'' being insular derivatives of the African stonechat.Woog, F., Wink, M., Rastegar-Pouyani, E., Gonzalez, J., & Helm, B. (2008). Distinct taxonomic position of the Madagascar stonechat (''Saxicola torquatus sibilla'') revealed by nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA. ''J. Ornithol''. 149: 423–430
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/ref> Its ancestors probably diverged from the

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

n lineage as it spread across the continent some 2–2.5

mya Mya may refer to: Brands and product names * Mya (program), an intelligent personal assistant created by Motorola * Mya (TV channel), an Italian Television channel * Midwest Young Artists, a comprehensive youth music program Codes * Burmese ...

during the Late Pliocene.Wink, M.; Sauer-Gürth, H. & Gwinner, E. (2002): Evolutionary relationships of stonechats and related species inferred from mitochondrial-DNA sequences and genomic fingerprinting. '' British Birds'' 95: 349-355
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/ref> The etymology of the scientific name is from ''Saxicola'', "rock-dweller", from Latin ''saxum'', a rock + ''incola'', dwelling in; and ''tectes'', onomatopoetic New Latin after the species' call, from the Réunion Creole name ''tec-tec''.

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the Réunion stonechat
Saxicola Birds described in 1789 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin Birds of Réunion {{Muscicapidae-stub