Reunion Stonechat

Taxobox
name = Reunion Stonechat
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

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image_width = 300px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Muscicapidae
genus = "Saxicola"
species = "S. tectes"
binomial = "Saxicola tectes"
binomial_authority = (Gmelin, 1789)The Reunion Stonechat, "Saxicola tectes" [Etymology: "Saxicola", "rock-dweller", from Latin "saxum", a rock + "incola", one who dwells someplace. "tectes", onomatopoetic New Latin after the species' callVerify source|date=July 2007; compare the Réunion Creole name, "tec-tec".] ,is a chat species endemic to Réunion island. This small passerine bird is common in clearings and open mountain bushlands. Its white eyebrows are the most prominent external difference with "Saxicola torquata", the African Stonechat, whose eyebrow color is black.

It has for some time been included in the "Common Stonechat" ("Saxicola torquata"), but it is well distinct; it is an insular derivative of the African Stonechat. Its ancestors diverged from the sub-Saharan African lineage as it spread across the continent some 2-2.5 mya during the Late Pliocene.(Wink "et al." 2002)

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

* 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. [http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/institute/fak14/ipmb/phazb/pubwink/2002/28.2002.pdf PDF fulltext]