Emarginata

This article is about the bird genus. For other systematic names containing "emarginata", see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names § E.

Emarginata is a genus of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in southern Africa.

Emarginata
Karoo chat (Emarginata schlegelii) in South Africa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Genus:	Emarginata Shelley, 1896
Type species
Luscinia sinuata[1] Sundevall, 1858

The three species in the genus were previously placed in the genus Cercomela. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that Cercomela was polyphyletic and that the type species Cercomela melanura (the blackstart) lay in a clade containing members of Oenanthe.^[2] A more comprehensive study published in 2012 confirmed the earlier results.^[3] In order to create monophyletic genera the species assigned to Cercomela were moved into other genera.^[4] Three species were placed in the resurrected genus Emarginata that had been introduced by the English ornithologist George Ernest Shelley in 1896.^[5]

The three species in the genus are:^[4]

• Sickle-winged chat (Emarginata sinuata)
• Karoo chat (Emarginata schlegelii)
• Tractrac chat (Emarginata tractrac)