Monachella occidentale

Identificazione

The western black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica) is a wheatear, a small migratory passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher (family Muscicapidae). It was formerly (and still is by some authorities) considered conspecific with the eastern black-eared wheatear.

Tassonomia

In 1743 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the western black-eared wheatear in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Red or Russet-colour’d Wheat-Ear". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen owned by Mark Catesby that had been collected in Gibraltar. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the western black-eared wheatear with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla hispanica and cited Edwards' work. The specific epithet is from the Latin Hispanicus meaning "Spanish". The western black-eared wheatear is now placed in the genus Oenanthe that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The western black-eared wheatear was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe melanoleuca). The species were split based on the results of a genetic study of the wheatears published in 2019.<p>The genus name Oenanthe is derived from the Ancient Greek oenos (οίνος) "wine" and anthos (ανθός) "flower". It refers to the northern wheatear's return to Greece in the spring just as the grapevines blossom. The specific hispanica is Latin for "Spanish". "Wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a 16th-century linguistic corruption of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.

Nome scientifico

Oenanthe hispanica

Autorità

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Ordine

Passeriformi

Famiglia

Muscicapidae

Genere

Oenanthe

Areale e habitat

Breeding range: PAL : sw, sc Europe and nw Africa. Non-breeding range: w Africa.

Areale riproduttivo

PAL : sw, sc Europe and nw Africa

Areale non riproduttivo

Africa occidentale

Migrazione

Migratori completi

Comportamento

Comportamento migratorio: Migratori completi.

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione: in diminuzione.

Tendenza della popolazione

in diminuzione