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.
Rock thrushes | |
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Male short-toed rock thrush (Monticola brevipes) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Muscicapidae |
Genus: | Monticola F. Boie, 1822 |
Type species | |
Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus, 1766
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Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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The genus was erected by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie in 1822.[1][2] Monticola is the Latin word for mountain-dweller or mountaineer.[3] The genus was formerly included in the thrush family Turdidae.[4] 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.[5][6]
The genus contains the following species:[7]
Monticola pongraczi (Pliocene of Beremend, Hungary) [9]