Open-habitat chats (genera Myrmec ocichla , Cercomela , Oenanthe and relative) are a morphologically and ecologically cohesive group of genera with unclear phylogenetic relationships. They are distributed mostly in open, arid and/or rocky hab itats of Africa and Eurasia. Here, we present the most comprehen-sive molecular phylogenetic analysis of this group to date, with a complete taxon sampling at the species level. The analysis, based on a multilocus dataset including three mitochondrial and three nuclear loci, allows us to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships and test the traditiona l generic limits. All genera are non-mon ophyletic, suggesting extensive convergence on similar plumage patterns in unrelated spe-cies. While the colour pattern app ear to be a poor predictor of the phylogenetic relation ships, some of the ecological and behavioural traits agree relatively well with the major clades. Following our results, we also propose a revise d generic classification for the whole group.

Keywords