ManonGros
commented
5 years ago The publisher added the following comment:
In the Catalogue of Life http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/browse/tree/id/fe198dce76fb02109af78ecb6943d23d the genus Turdus is classified among Muscicapidae with the species Turdus migratorius. This name is accompanied with the sign † which indicates an extinct taxon. However, Turdus migratorius is not an extinct species but on the contrary a still common species today https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=D77E4B418D581FB2 . Besides in the Catalogue of Life, the name Turdus migratorius appears again among Turdidae with its various subspecies. Is it a synonymy? I do not know the extinct species (is it an error?), but in any case, the same name cannot be connected with two distinct families. Is it the presence of this Turdus among Muscicapidae in the Catalogue of Life which does that the genus Turdus is classified in this Family by the GBIF and not the Turdidae? Does a similar situation exist for other names accompanied with the sign † in the Catalogue of Life?
This comment is base on an email we received (see Helpdesk 28/01/2019).
According to the taxonomy and nomenclature in Howard & Moore 4eme Ed., the Turdus genus classified in the Turdidae family. This is also the case for most of the current references such as Clements v.2018, the Handbook of the birds of the world published by Lynx in 16 volumes between 1992 and 2011, or the IOC World Bird List. Regional lists also classify the Turdus genus in the Turdidae family, see for example the Checklist of North & Middle American Birds de l'American Ornithological society (see p. 507 on this pdf) or the African Bird Club Checklist A similar taxonomy can be found in some of the expert-curated online resources which use their own list or use the ones I mentioned such as Avibase, Birdlife International, the INPN or the UICN France
The Turdidae and the Muscicapidae are two close families. They are sometimes gathered under the Muscicapidae family. This is the case in the Catalogue of Life, the Sibley & Monroe list from 1990 or the CINFO list from 1993. The later classifies the Trudus genus under the Turdinae subfamily. However, these last two are generally considered obsolete.
Both families are included in the GBIF backbone taxonomy but the Turdus genus is under the Muscicapidae family. This is quite curious as the genus gave its name to the Turdidae and not classifying it under this family would be anachronistic.
Most of the ornithologists distinguish the two families and classify the Turdus genus in the Turdidae family, not the Muscicapidae family.