Liocichla

The liocichlas are a group of birds in the genus of the same name, Liocichla, from the family Leiothrichidae. They are found in Asia from India to China. They belong to a clade also containing at least the Leiothrix, the barwings, the minlas and the sibias. Among these, they are an early offshoot, or basal lineage.^[2]

Liocichla
Scarlet-faced liocichla (Liocichla ripponi)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Leiothrichidae
Genus:	Liocichla R. Swinhoe, 1877
Type species
Liocichla steerii[1] Swinhoe, 1877
Species
See text

Taxonomy

Speciation in the group is thought to have begun with the ancestral species originating somewhere in southern China, making L. steerii the basal species. The lineage consisting of L. ripponi and L. phoenicea are thought to have had a split in the Pleistocene (0.07–1.88 Ma) with a similar split of the other lineage leading to L. bugunorum and L. omeiensis separated by the Hengduan mountains.^[3]

L. steerii L. omeiensis L. bugunorum L. phoenicea L. ripponi

Phylogeny of the genus.[3]

Species

The genus contains five species:^[4]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Liocichla phoenicea	Red-faced liocichla	Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Northeast India, Nepal and western Yunnan.
	Liocichla ripponi	Scarlet-faced liocichla	Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and southern China.
	Liocichla omeiensis	Emei Shan liocichla	Sichuan, China.
	Liocichla bugunorum	Bugun liocichla	Arunachal Pradesh, India
	Liocichla steerii	Steere's liocichla	Taiwan.

See also

• Bird species new to science described in the 2000s