Tarsiger is a genus of six species of
birds in the family
Muscicapidae. They are small, mostly brightly coloured
insectivorous birds native to
Asia and (one species) northeastern
Europe; four of the six species are confined to the Sino-Himalayan mountain system.[1] The genus has sometimes been included within the related genus Luscinia, but the species have been found to form a distinct
monophyletic group.[2]
The Himalayan bluetail was formerly treated as a
subspecies of the red-flanked bluetail.[1] It was split on the basis of its more intense plumage colours, and its ecology and behaviour, being a short-distance altitudinal migrant not a long-distance migrant.[7]
The phylogenetic relationships between the species were determined in a
molecular phylogenetic study published in 2022:[8]
^
abCollar, N.J. (2005). "Genus Tarsiger". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D.A. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 10: Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 754–756.
ISBN978-84-87334-72-6.
^Sangster, G.; Alström, P.; Forsmark, E.; Olsson, U. (2010). "Multi-locus phylogenetic analysis of Old World chats and flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly at family, subfamily and genus level (Aves: Muscicapidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 57 (1): 380–392.
doi:
10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.008.
PMID20656044.
^Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Anderton, John C. (2012). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2: Attributes and Status (2nd ed.). Washington D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Lynx Edicions. pp. 393–394.
ISBN978-84-96553-87-3.