Rock thrush

The rock thrushes, Monticola, are a genus of chats, medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous songbirds. All are Old World birds, and most are associated with mountainous regions.

Taxonomy

The genus Monticola was erected by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie in 1822. Boie listed two species, saxatilis and cyanus but did not designate the type species. In 1826 Boie introduced a different genus name, Petrocossyphus, containing a single species, Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus. This new genus name was not accepted by other ornithologists as according to Hugh Edwin Strickland: "The former name ought therefore to stand, as authors ought no more to alter their own generic names when once published than those of others". The type species of the genus Monticola is Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus, the common rock thrush. Monticola is the Latin word for mountain-dweller or mountaineer.

The genus was formerly included in the thrush family Turdidae, but molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2004 and 2010 showed that the species are more closely related to members of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

The genus contains the following species:

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
File:Blue-capped rock thrush (Monticola cinclorhyncha) 037.jpg	Blue-capped rock thrush	Monticola cinclorhyncha	Himalayas; winters to western and eastern Ghats
File:4G4A2289.jpg	White-throated rock thrush	Monticola gularis	Manchuria
File:Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush Male at Almora DSCN8228 11.jpg	Chestnut-bellied rock thrush	Monticola rufiventris	Himalayas, Patkai and southern China
File:Monticola brevipes.jpg	Short-toed rock thrush	Monticola brevipes	arid areas of southwestern Angola and southern Africa
File:Monticola explorator -Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa -male-8.jpg	Sentinel rock thrush	Monticola explorator	southern Africa
File:Amber mountain rock thrush (Monticola sharpei erythronotus) male 2.jpg	Amber Mountain rock thrush	Monticola erythronotus	Amber Mountain, Madagascar
File:Forest Rock-Thrush (Monticola sharpei), Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.jpg	Forest rock thrush	Monticola sharpei	Madagascar
File:Benson's rock thrush (Monticola sharpei bensoni).jpg	Benson's rock thrush	Monticola sharpei bensoni	southern-central Madagascar
File:Littoral Rock Thrush, Ambola, Madagascar 2.jpg	Littoral rock thrush	Monticola imerina	southern coastal Madagascar
File:Monticola rufocinereus.jpg	Little rock thrush	Monticola rufocinereus	eastern Afromontane
File:Codirossone 1-Passo dello Spluga (SO).png	Common rock thrush	Monticola saxatilis	temperate rocky regions of Palearctic; winters to Africa
File:Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius) (27649993912).jpg	Blue rock thrush	Monticola solitarius	temperate and elevated areas of Palearctic; winters to Africa, Arabia and Indomalaya
File:Monticola rupestris -Marakele National Park, South Africa -male-8 (1).jpg	Cape rock thrush	Monticola rupestris	southern Africa
File:Miombo Rock-Thrush, Kakanda, DRC (5812572406).jpg	Miombo rock thrush	Monticola angolensis	Miombo woodlands
File:Myrmecocichla semirufa -Ethiopia-8 (cropped).jpg	White-winged cliff chat	Monticola semirufus	Ethiopian Highlands

Fossil record

Monticola pongraczi (Pliocene of Beremend, Hungary)

Further reading

• Template:Open access

External links

• Rock thrush videos on the Internet Bird Collection

Template:Asbox