Thrush Nightingale
Luscinia luscinia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia), also known as the sprosser, is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is a migratory species breeding in forests in Europe and the Palearctic and overwintering in Africa. An insectivore, it nests near the ground in dense undergrowth. Its distribution is more northerly than the very closely related common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), which it closely resembles in appearance. Hybrids between the two have occurred in areas where their ranges overlap.
The thrush nightingale is similar in size to the European robin. Sexes are similar, both being plain greyish-brown above and white and greyish-brown below. Its greyer tones, giving a cloudy appearance to the underside, and lack of the common nightingale's obvious rufous tail side patches are the clearest plumage differences from that species. It also has a similar but somewhat more solemn song than that of L. megarhynchos. The nightingales, and similar small European species, are often called chats.
Wikipedia contributors, Thrush nightingale; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:15:48.316131+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Luscinia luscinia (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Thrush Nightingale
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Luscinia
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyMuscicapidae Fleming, 1822
- genusLuscinia T. Forster, 1817
- speciesLuscinia luscinia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Luscinia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Siberian Blue RobinLuscinia cyane (Pallas, 1776) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| BlackthroatLuscinia obscura (Berezowski & Bianchi, 1891) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| FirethroatLuscinia pectardens (David, 1877) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-tailed RubythroatLuscinia pectoralis (Gould, 1837) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rufous-tailed RobinLuscinia sibilans (Swinhoe, 1863) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rufous-headed RobinLuscinia ruficeps (Hartert, 1907) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Indian Blue RobinLuscinia brunnea (Hodgson, 1837) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Siberian RubythroatLuscinia calliope (Pallas, 1776) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common NightingaleLuscinia megarhynchos C. L. Brehm, 1831 | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| BluethroatLuscinia svecica (Linnaeus, 1758) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=560896 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3WFW5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.