title: The Rusty-tailed Flycatcher (Muscicapa ruficauda; Aves: Muscicapidae) is a member of the genus Ficedula.
abstract: The phylogenetic relationships of the avian family Muscicapidae (Old World chats and flycatchers) have historically been enigmatic and remain an active area of study. Widespread instances of non-monophyly resulting from misleading morphological and behavioral similarities have merited numerous taxonomic revisions to the group. Here we report one such instance with regard to the Rusty-tailed Flycatcher Muscicapa ruficauda, which has recently been placed in the newly proposed monotypic genus Ripleyia, due to inferred sister relationship to the genus Muscicapa and related genera (Voelker et al., 2016a). This name was later replaced by Ripleyornis, as it was realized that Ripleyia is a junior homonym of a genus of Mollusca (Voelker et al., 2016b). Using a Bayesian phylogenetic assessment of the Muscicapidae with near-complete taxon sampling of the genus Ficedula for five loci, along with an acoustic comparison of M. ruficauda to a subset of other flycatcher species, we show that this species should be reassigned to the genus Ficedula and accordingly that the names Ripleyia and Ripleyornis are both junior synonyms of Ficedula.
authors.affiliation: Commitee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, United States. Electronic address: dhooper1@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hooper
authors.affiliation: Systematics and Biodiversity, Gothenburg University, Department of Zoology, Box 463, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Urban
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.affiliation: 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, PO Box 7007, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alström
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D010802:Phylogeny; D020308:Songbirds / Q000145:classification*; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
keywords: Ficedula; Muscicapa; Muscicapidae; Ripleyia; Ripleyornis; Systematics