Melaenornis

Melaenornis is a genus of small passerine birds in the large family Muscicapidae commonly known as the Old World flycatchers. They are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa.

Melaenornis
Southern black flycatcher (Melaenornis pammelaina)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Tribe:	Muscicapini
Genus:	Melaenornis G.R. Gray, 1840
Type species
Melasoma edolioides[1] Swainson, 1937
Species
see text

Taxonomy

The genus Melaenornis was introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist George Gray. It was a replacement name for Melasoma that had been introduced in 1837 by William Swainson with the northern black flycatcher as the type species.^[2] Melasoma was pre-occupied by "Melasoma Dillwyn" that had been introduced in 1831 by James Stephens for a genus of insects.^[3][4] The name Melaenornis combines the Ancient Greek melas, melaina meaning "black" with ornis meaning "bird".^[5]

Species

The genus contains the following seven species:^[6]

Image	Common Name	Scientific Name	Distribution
	Angola slaty flycatcher	Melaenornis brunneus	Angola
	White-eyed slaty flycatcher	Melaenornis fischeri	eastern Afromontane
	Abyssinian slaty flycatcher	Melaenornis chocolatinus	Ethiopian Highlands
	Nimba flycatcher	Melaenornis annamarulae	Western Guinean lowland forests
-	Yellow-eyed black flycatcher	Melaenornis ardesiacus	Albertine Rift montane forests
	Northern black flycatcher	Melaenornis edolioides	northern Sub-Saharan Africa
	Southern black flycatcher	Melaenornis pammelaina	southern Sub-Saharan Africa

This genus formerly included fewer species. The results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 led to a reorganization of the Old World flycatchers family in which the four species in Bradornis and the single species in Sigelus were merged into Melaenornis.^[6][7] The genus formerly included the pale flycatcher and the chat flycatcher. Based on a phylogenetic study published in 2023, they were moved to the resurrected genus Agricola.^[8][6]