Eurasian Rock Pipit
Anthus petrosus (Montagu, 1798)
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 European rock pipit (Anthus petrosus), or simply rock pipit, is a species of small passerine bird that breeds in western Europe on rocky coasts. It has streaked greyish-brown upperparts and buff underparts, and is similar in appearance to other European pipits. There are two subspecies, of which the nominate is non-migratory, and the Fennoscandian one is migratory, wintering in shoreline habitats further west and south in Europe. The European rock pipit is territorial at least in the breeding season, and year-round where it is resident. Males will sometimes enter an adjacent territory to assist the resident in repelling an intruder, behaviour only otherwise known from the African fiddler crab. European rock pipits construct a cup nest under coastal vegetation or in cliff crevices and lay four to six speckled pale grey eggs which hatch in about two weeks with a further 16 days to fledging. Although insects are occasionally caught in flight, the pipits feed mainly on small invertebrates picked off the rocks or from shallow water.
Wikipedia contributors, European rock pipit; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:17:26.843327+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Anthus petrosus (Montagu, 1798)
- Name authority
- (Montagu, 1798)
- Common name
- Eurasian Rock Pipit
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Anthus
- 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
- familyMotacillidae Horsfield, 1821
- genusAnthus Bechstein, 1805
- speciesAnthus petrosus (Montagu, 1798)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Anthus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Correndera PipitAnthus correndera Vieillot, 1818 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-breasted PipitAnthus chloris Lichtenstein, 1842 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hellmayr's PipitAnthus hellmayri Hartert, 1909 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Short-billed PipitAnthus furcatus Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mountain PipitAnthus hoeschi Stresemann, 1938 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-throated PipitAnthus cervinus (Pallas, 1811) | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Berthelot's PipitAnthus berthelotii Bolle, 1862 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Water PipitAnthus spinoletta (Linnaeus, 1758) | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nilgiri PipitAnthus nilghiriensis Sharpe, 1885 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rosy PipitAnthus roseatus Blyth, 1847 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Paddyfield PipitAnthus rufulus Vieillot, 1818 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African Rock PipitAnthus crenatus Finsch & Hartlaub, 1870 | MotacillidaeChordata | 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=558662 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:5VKF6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.