''Trochocercus'' is a genus of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Monarchidae The monarchs or monarch flycatchers (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and Grallina, magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivore, insectivorous songbirds with l ...

. Described by

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...

in 1850, the name ''Trochocercus'' is a combination of the

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

words ''trokhos'' meaning "circular" or "round" and ''kerkos'', meaning "tail".

Taxonomy and systematics

Extant species

After three former species were transferred to the genus ''Elminia'' in 2009, the genus ''Trochocercus'' now contains the following two remaining species:

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Trochocercus'': *

Bedford's paradise flycatcher Bedford's paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone bedfordi'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical ...

(as ''Trochocercus bedfordi'') *

Dusky crested flycatcher The dusky crested flycatcher (''Elminia nigromitrata'') is a species of bird in the family Stenostiridae. It is widespread across the African tropical rainforest. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtrop ...

(as ''Trochocercus nigromitratus'') *

White-bellied crested flycatcher The white-bellied crested flycatcher (''Elminia albiventris'') is a bird species in the family Stenostiridae; it was formerly placed with the drongos in the Dicruridae. It is native to the Western High Plateau, Bioko and the Albertine Rift monta ...

(as ''Trochocercus albiventris'') *

White-tailed crested flycatcher The white-tailed crested flycatcher (''Elminia albonotata'') is a species of bird in the flycatcher family Stenostiridae. It has a discontinuous distribution in eastern Africa. There are three subspecies, ''E. a. albonotata'' of central Kenya, a ...

(as ''Trochocercus albicaudatus'' or ''Trochocercus albonotata'')

References

Monarchidae Bird genera Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Monarchidae-stub