Kingdom Animalia Family Muscicapidae Rank Genus | Class Aves Phylum Chordata Order Passerine | |
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Similar Passerine, Indian blue robin, Rufous‑headed robin, Rufous‑tailed robin, Ryukyu robin | ||
Siberian blue robin larvivora cyane male
Larvivora is a genus of small passerine birds belonging to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in central and eastern Asia.
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The six species in this genus were all previously placed in other genera. A large molecular phylogenetic study published on 2010 found that the genera Luscinia and Erithacus as defined by Edward C. Dickinson in 2003 were not monophyletic. The genus Larvivora with the type species Larvivora cyane was reinstated to accommodate a well-defined clade. Although the rufous-headed robin was not included in the phylogenetic study, it was moved to the resurrected genus as it is similar in structure, song and behaviour to the Indian blue robin and the Siberian blue robin.
The genus Larvivora had been introduced by the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1837. The word Larvivora comes from the new Latin larva meaning caterpillar and -vorus meaning eating (vorace to devour).
The genus includes the following species: