NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Northern Wheatear
Oenanthe oenanthe (Linnaeus, 1758)
Source-backed taxonomic record
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 northern wheatear or wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is the most widespread member of the wheatear genus Oenanthe in Europe and North and Central Asia. The northern wheatear is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in open stony country in Europe and east across the Palearctic with footholds in northeastern Canada and Greenland as well as in northwestern Canada and Alaska. It nests in rock crevices and rabbit burrows. All birds spend most of their winter in Africa.
Wikipedia contributors, Northern wheatear; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:35:38.060126+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Oenanthe oenanthe (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Northern Wheatear
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Oenanthe
- 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
- genusOenanthe Vieillot, 1816
- speciesOenanthe oenanthe (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Oenanthe. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Oenanthe albonigra (Hume, 1872) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-breasted WheatearOenanthe bottae (Bonaparte, 1854) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cyprus WheatearOenanthe cypriaca (Homeyer, 1884) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Desert WheatearOenanthe deserti (Temminck, 1825) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Oenanthe dubia (Blundell & Lovat, 1899) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Oenanthe fusca (Blyth, 1851) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-eared WheatearOenanthe hispanica (Linnaeus, 1758) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Isabelline WheatearOenanthe isabellina (Temminck, 1829) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-crowned WheatearOenanthe leucopyga (C. L. Brehm, 1855) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black WheatearOenanthe leucura (Gmelin, 1789) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Arabian WheatearOenanthe lugentoides (Seebohm, 1881) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Abyssinian WheatearOenanthe lugubris (Rüppell, 1837) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
North America
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=179814 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:48X9H. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.