Editing African stonechat (section)

==Systematics and taxonomy==
In 1760, the French zoologist [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]] included a description of the African Stonechat in his ''Ornithologie'' based on a specimen collected from the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in South Africa. He used the French name {{Lang|fr|Le gobe-mouche à collier du Cap de Bonne Espérance}} and the Latin ''Muscicapa Torquata Capitis Bonae Spei''.<ref name=brisson>{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés | volume=3 | language=fr, la | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | pages=379–380, Plate 36 fig 4 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36011691 }} The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.</ref> Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial system]] and are not recognised by the [[International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature]].<ref name=allen>{{cite journal |last=Allen | first=J.A. | author-link=Joel Asaph Allen | year=1910 | title=Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=28 | pages=317–335 | hdl=2246/678 }}</ref> When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] updated his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' for the [[12th edition of Systema Naturae|twelfth edition]], he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.<ref name=allen/> One of these was the African Stonechat. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the [[binomial name]] ''Muscicapa torquata'' and cited Brisson's work.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title=Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=12th | volume=1, Part 1 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii  | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=la | page=328 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946524 }}</ref> The [[Specific name (zoology)|specific name]] is from Latin ''{{Lang|la|torquatus}}'' "collared".<ref name=hbwkey>{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/torquatus | access-date=10 May 2018 }}</ref> This species is now placed in the genus ''[[Saxicola]]'' that was introduced by the German naturalist [[Johann Matthäus Bechstein]] in 1802.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bechstein  | first=Johann Matthäus | author-link=Johann Matthäus Bechstein | year=1802 | title=Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte | page=216 | place=Leipzig | publisher=Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter | language=de | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41098826 }}</ref>

The closest relative of this species are apparently not the [[Eurasia]]n populations but the [[Réunion stonechat]] (''S.&nbsp;tectes''), but still the "white-collared" ''Saxicola'' form a distinct group in the genus. ''S.&nbsp;torquatus'' and ''S.&nbsp;tectes'' form a [[sub-Saharan Africa]]n lineage that diverged from the Eurasian one in the [[Late Pliocene]], roughly 2.5 [[million years ago]]. Réunion was colonized shortly thereafter, indicating a rapid expansion along the [[Indian Ocean]] coast of Africa. With the [[Sahara]] drying out in the subsequent [[Quaternary glaciation]], the African and Eurasian populations became isolated for good.<ref name=wink/>

The recent separation as species was proposed after [[mtDNA]] [[cytochrome b|cytochrome ''b'']] [[DNA sequence|sequence]] and [[nDNA]] [[Microsatellite (genetics)|microsatellite]] [[DNA fingerprinting|fingerprinting]] analysis of specimens of the subspecies ''Saxicola torquatus axillaris'' but not ''S.&nbsp;t. torquatus'', and hence this species was briefly known as ''S.&nbsp;axillaris''.<ref name=wink/>

===Subspecies===
There are 16 recognised [[subspecies]].<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=February 2025 | title=Chats, Old World flycatchers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 15.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/chats/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref> They differ slightly in size, and more in the extent of the orange-red on the upper breast of the males, and whether the lower breast is white with a distinct boundary from the upper breast, or pale orange with an indistinct boundary from the darker upper breast. The extent of the orange-red also varies with time of year, often extending on to the belly outside the breeding season.<ref name = ub02 />
* ''S. t. felix'' [[George Latimer Bates|Bates]], 1936 – southwest Saudi Arabia and west Yemen
* ''S. t. albofasciatus'' Rüppell, 1840 – southeast Sudan and northeast Uganda to central Ethiopia
::upper breast black, not orange-red{{sfn|Clement|Rose|2015|pp=122-123, 484}}
* ''S. t. jebelmarrae'' [[Hubert Lynes|Lynes]], 1920 – east Chad and west Sudan
* ''S. t. moptanus'' Bates, 1932 – Senegal and south Mali
:The smallest subspecies.
* ''S. t. nebularum'' Bates, 1930 – Tropical West Africa from Sierra Leone to west Ivory Coast
:Extensive orange-red on breast and also flanks.
* ''S. t. axillaris'' ([[George Ernest Shelley|Shelley]], 1885) – east Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, north and west Tanzania
* ''S. t. promiscuus'' [[Ernst Hartert|Hartert]], 1922 – south Tanzania to east Zimbabwe and west Mozambique
:Very limited orange-red on uppermost part of breast only.
* ''S. t. salax'' ([[Jules Verreaux|Verreaux, J]] & [[Édouard Verreaux|Verreaux, E]], 1851) – east Nigeria to northwest Angola, [[Bioko Island]]
* ''S. t. stonei'' Bowen, 1931 – east and south Angola to southwest Tanzania south to north South Africa and Botswana
* ''S. t. clanceyi'' Courtenay-Latimer, 1961 – coastal west South Africa
* ''S. t. torquatus'' (Linnaeus, 1766) – central South Africa
* ''S. t. oreobates'' [[Phillip Clancey|Clancey]], 1956 – Lesotho
* ''S. t. voeltzkowi'' [[Hermann Grote|Grote]], 1926 – [[Grande Comore]]
* ''S. t. sibilla'' (Linnaeus, 1766) – [[Madagascar]] except north, central (Madagascar stonechat group)
* ''S. t. tsaratananae'' Milon, 1950 – north [[Madagascar]]  (Madagascar stonechat group)
* ''S. t. ankaratrae'' [[Finn Salomonsen|Salomonsen]], 1934 – central [[Madagascar]]  (Madagascar stonechat group)

The subspecies ''S. t. sibilla'', ''S. t. tsaratananae'' and ''S. t. ankaratrae'' have sometimes been considered as a separate species, the Madagascar stonechat.<ref name=ioc/>