Akalat
| Akalats | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Sheppardia Haagner, 1909 |
| Type species | |
| Sheppardia gunningi Haagner, 1909
| |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
The akalats (stressed on the second syllable) are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus Sheppardia. They were formerly placed in the thrush family, Turdidae, but are more often now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.
The genus contains 11 Sub-Saharan forest-dwelling species:
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | Usambara akalat | Sheppardia montana | Usambara Mountains |
| - | Iringa akalat | Sheppardia lowei | Eastern Arc forests |
| - | Rubeho akalat | Sheppardia aurantiithorax | Rubeho Mountains |
| - | East coast akalat | Sheppardia gunningi | Nguu Mountains and eastern Afromontane |
| - | Sharpe's akalat | Sheppardia sharpei | Eastern Arc forests and northern Malawi |
| - | Bocage's akalat | Sheppardia bocagei | miombo region |
| - | Short-tailed akalat | Sheppardia poensis | Western High Plateau and Albertine Rift montane forests |
| - | Lowland akalat | Sheppardia cyornithopsis | African tropical rainforest |
| Equatorial akalat | Sheppardia aequatorialis | eastern Afromontane | |
| Gabela akalat | Sheppardia gabela | western Angola | |
| Grey-winged robin-chat | Sheppardia polioptera | Sub-Saharan Africa (rare in eastern and southern Africa) |