Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Subsectio: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: Saurischia
Cladus: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Infraclassis: Aves
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Infraordo: Passerida
Superfamilia: Passeroidea
Familia: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
Species: M. aguimp – M. alba – M. bocagii – M. capensis – – M. citreola – M. clara – – M. flaviventris – M. grandis – M. maderaspatensis – M. samveasnae – M. tschutschensisSpecies: M. aguimp - M. alba - M. capensis - M. cinerea - M. citreola - M. clara - M. flava - M. flaviventris - M. grandis - M. lugens - M. madaraspatensis - M. samveasnae - M. tschutschensis
M. flavaM. cinerea
Name
Motacilla Linnaeus, 1758
Gender: feminine
Type species: Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758
Fixation: Linnean tautonymy
References
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiæ: impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. i–ii, 1–824 pp DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.542: 184.
Vernacular names
беларуская: Сітаўкі
brezhoneg: Kannerez
čeština: Konipas
dansk: Vipstjert
Deutsch: Stelzen
English: Wagtail
Esperanto: Motaciloj
فارسی: دمجنبانک
suomi: Västäräkit
עברית: נחליאלי
ქართული: ბოლოქანქარა
lietuvių: Kielės
മലയാളം: വാലുകുലുക്കി
português: Alvéola
русский: Трясогузки
svenska: Ärlesläktet
Kiswahili: Tikisa
తెలుగు: జిట్టంగి
ไทย: นกกระเด้าลม
Türkçe: Kuyruksallayan
中文: 鶺鴒屬
Wagtails are a group of passerine birds that form the genus Motacilla in the family Motacillidae. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus Dendronanthus which is closely related to Motacilla and sometimes included therein. The common name and genus names are derived from their characteristic tail pumping behaviour. Together with the pipits and longclaws they form the family Motacillidae.
The willie wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) of Australia is an unrelated bird similar in coloration and shape to the Japanese wagtail. It belongs to the fantails.
Taxonomy
Wagtail
Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
The genus Motacilla was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The type species is the white wagtail.[2] Motacilla is the Latin name for the pied wagtail; although actually a diminutive of motare, "to move about", from medieval times it led to the misunderstanding of cilla as "tail".[3]
At first glance, the wagtails appear to be divided into a yellow-bellied group and a white-bellied one, or one where the upper head is black and another where it is usually grey, but may be olive, yellow, or other colours. However, these are not evolutionary lineages; change of belly colour and increase of melanin have occurred independently several times in the wagtails, and the colour patterns which actually indicate relationships are more subtle.
mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data (Voelker, 2002) is of limited use: the suspicion that there is a superspecies of probably 3 white-bellied, black-throated wagtails is confirmed. Also, there is another superspecies in sub-Saharan Africa, three white-throated species with a black breast-band. The remaining five species are highly variable morphologically and their relationships with each other and with the two clades have not yet been satisfactorily explained.
The origin of the genus appears to be in the general area of Eastern Siberia/Mongolia. Wagtails spread rapidly across Eurasia and dispersed to Africa in the Zanclean (Early Pliocene)[4] where the sub-Saharan lineage was later isolated. The African pied wagtail (and possibly the Mekong wagtail) diverged prior to the massive radiation of the white-bellied black-throated and most yellow-bellied forms, all of which took place during the late Piacenzian (early Late Pliocene), c. 3 mya.
Three species are poly- or paraphyletic in the present taxonomical arrangement and either subspecies need to be reassigned and/or species split up. The blue-headed wagtail (AKA yellow wagtail and many other names), especially, has always been a taxonomical nightmare with over a dozen currently accepted subspecies and many more invalid ones. The two remaining "monochrome" species, Mekong and African pied wagtail may be closely related, or a most striking example of convergent evolution.
Prehistoric wagtails known from fossils are Motacilla humata and Motacilla major.
Characteristics
Wagtails are slender, often colourful, ground-feeding insectivores of open country in the Old World. Species of wagtail breed in Africa, Europe and Asia, some of which are fully or partially migratory. Two species also breed in Alaska, and wintering birds may reach Australia.
They are ground nesters, laying up to six speckled eggs at a time. Among their most conspicuous behaviours is a near constant tail wagging, a trait that has given the birds their common name. In spite of the ubiquity of the behaviour and observations of it, the reasons for it are poorly understood. It has been suggested that it may flush up prey, or that it may signal submissiveness to other wagtails. Recent studies have suggested instead that it is a signal of vigilance[5] that may aid to deter potential predators.[6]
Species list
The genus contains 13 species.[7]
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Motacilla flava | Western yellow wagtail | temperate Europe and Asia. |
 |
Motacilla tschutschensis | Eastern yellow wagtail | North America in Alaska, Asia and Australia. |
 |
Motacilla citreola | Citrine wagtail | South Asia |
 |
Motacilla capensis | Cape wagtail | southern Africa from Uganda, the eastern DRCongo and Kenya, through Zambia and Angola to southern Africa, south to the Western Cape and the Cape of Good Hope. |
 |
Motacilla flaviventris | Madagascar wagtail | Madagascar. |
 |
Motacilla cinerea | Grey wagtail | western Europe including the British Isles, Scandinavia and Mediterranean region. |
 |
Motacilla clara | Mountain wagtail | Guinea to Ethiopia south to South Africa. |
 |
Motacilla alba, at least nine subspecies.[8][circular reference] - polyphyletic or paraphyletic | White or Pied wagtail[9] | This species breeds throughout Eurasia up to latitudes 75°N, only being absent in the Arctic from areas where the July isotherm is less than 4 °C. It also breeds in the mountains of Morocco and western Alaska. It occupies a wide range of habitats, but is absent from deserts.[10][11][circular reference] |
 |
Motacilla aguimp | African pied wagtail | sub-Saharan Africa from the Eastern Cape north to extreme southern Egypt and from Guinea to western Eritrea and Somalia. |
 |
Motacilla samveasnae | Mekong wagtail | Cambodia and Laos, and is a non-breeding visitor to Thailand and Vietnam |
 |
Motacilla grandis | Japanese wagtail | Japan and Korea. |
 |
Motacilla maderaspatensis | White-browed wagtail | India |
| Motacilla bocagii | São Tomé shorttail | São Tomé |
Former species in this genus
Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Motacilla:
Superb fairywren (as Motacilla cyanea)[12]
Red-whiskered bulbul (emeria) (as Motacilla emeria)[13]
References
Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Volume 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 184.
Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 130.
Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
The date of 4.5 mya in Voelker (2002) is dubious as it does not rely upon hard data but is merely an estimate based on average values now known to be often wrong.
Randler, C (2006). "Is tail wagging in white wagtails, Motacilla alba, an honest signal of vigilance?" Animal Behaviour 71 (5): 1089-1093
Hasson, O. (1991). "Pursuit-deterrent signals: communication between prey and predator". Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 6:325-329.
Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
White wagtail
RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds, 2nd Edition, by Simon Harrap
Collins Bird Guide (Page 250) by Mullarney, Svensson, Zetterstrom, & Grant
White wagtail
"Malurus cyaneus (Superb Fairywren) - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
"Pycnonotus jocosus emeria - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
Sources
Voelker, Gary (2002): Systematics and historical biogeography of wagtails: Dispersal versus vicariance revisited. Condor 104(4): 725–739. [English with Spanish abstract] DOI: 10.1650/0010-5422(2002)104[0725:SAHBOW]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
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