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Issue: Vol. 4196 No. 3: 23 Nov. 2016
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2016-11-23
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4196.3.7
Page range: 428–429
Abstract views: 136
PDF downloaded: 86

Niltavinae, a new taxon of Old World flycatchers (Aves: Muscicapidae)

Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 50007, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Vondellaan 55, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7007, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Göteborg, Box 463, SE-413 90 Gothenburg, Sweden
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Göteborg, Box 463, SE-413 90 Gothenburg, Sweden
Aves Muscicapidae

Abstract

The relationships among Old World chats and flycatchers (Muscicapidae) have recently been clarified in two independent molecular phylogenetic studies (Sangster et al. 2010, Zuccon & Ericson 2010). Both studies recovered a well-supported clade of predominantly blue flycatchers of the genera Niltava, Cyornis, Eumyias and Cyanoptila, some species traditionally included in the genus Rhinomyias and one species traditionally included in Ficedula (F. monileger). The family-group name Niltavinae Sangster, Alström, Forsmark & Olsson, 2010, was introduced for this clade (Sangster et al. 2010). Unfortunately, our description of the new taxon Niltavinae did not include a diagnosis (sensu ICZN article 13.1.1) and thus inadvertently made this name unavailable for nomenclatural purposes (Zuccon 2011). The supplementary data associated with our original paper included evidence by which the taxon Niltavinae can be diagnosed: a 1 base pair (bp) deletion in the ornithine decarboxylase gene, as shown in Figure S1 in the online version (doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.008), but this was not mentioned in the printed version of our paper. Given that Niltavinae Sangster, Alström, Forsmark & Olsson, 2010 represents a nomen nudum, and the clade for which this name was intended thus remains unnamed, we here provide the following description:

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