# Nicator
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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicator
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{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{other uses}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Nicator Gronvold.jpg
| image_caption = ''[N. gularis](/source/Nicator_gularis)'' (left) and ''[N. chloris](/source/Nicator_chloris)'' (right)
| display_parents = 2
| taxon = Nicator
| authority = [Hartlaub](/source/Gustav_Hartlaub) & [Finsch](/source/Otto_Finsch), 1870
| type_species = ''[Lanius chloris](/source/Western_nicator)''[{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/checklist?viewfamilies=248 |title= Nicatoridae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-16}}]
| type_species_authority = Valenciennes, 1826
| range_map = Nicator distribution map.png
| range_map_caption = Range of the genus
}}
The '''nicators''' are a genus, '''''Nicator''''', and family, '''Nicatoridae''', of [songbird](/source/songbird)s endemic to Africa. The genus and family contain three species.[{{Cite book | first = Lincoln | last = Fishpool | first2 = Joseph | last2 = Tobias | editor-first = Josep | editor-last = del Hoyo | editor2-first = Andrew | editor2-last = Elliott | editor3-first = David | editor3-last = Christie | contribution = Family Pycnonotidae (Bulbuls) | title = Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 10, Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes | year = 2005 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/247 247–248] | place = Barcelona | publisher = Lynx Edicions | isbn = 84-87334-72-5 }}]
==Taxonomy==
The systematic affinities of the genus have been a long-standing mystery. The group was originally assigned to the [shrike](/source/shrike)s (Laniidae). In the 1920s [James Chapin](/source/James_Chapin) noted the similarities between the nicators and both the [bulbul](/source/bulbul)s (Pycnonotidae) and the [bushshrike](/source/bushshrike)s (Malaconotidae). It wasn't until 1943 that [Jean Théodore Delacour](/source/Jean_Th%C3%A9odore_Delacour) placed the genus with the bulbuls. [Storrs Olson](/source/Storrs_L._Olson) argued that the genus was more closely related to the bushshrikes, as the nicators lacked the ossification of the nostril found in all other bulbuls.[{{cite journal|last=Olson|first=Storrs|year=1989|title=Preliminary systematic notes on some Old World Passerines|journal=Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia|volume=59|issue=3/4|pages=183–195}}] A number of features, including the position of the facial bristles (which are preorbital rather than rictal), their nests and the [calls](/source/bird_vocalization), make the genus unique, and DNA studies have recently suggested that the genus is best treated as a monogeneric [family](/source/Family_(taxonomy)).[{{cite journal|last=Beresford|first=P|last2=Barker |first2=FK |last3=Ryan |first3=PG |last4=Crowe |first4=TM |year=2005|title=African endemics span the tree of songbirds (Passeri): molecular systematics of several evolutionary 'enigmas'|journal=Proc. R. Soc. B|pmid=15888418|volume=272|issue=1565|pmc=1599865|pages=849–858| doi = 10.1098/rspb.2004.2997}}] Some authorities, like the [Clements Checklist](/source/The_Clements_Checklist_of_Birds_of_the_World), treat the nicators as a new family, Nicatoridae.[{{cite web |url = https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/corrections/updates-corrections-dec-2009|title=Updates & Corrections - Dec 2009 |last=Clements Checklist team|year=2009|work=The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World|access-date=16 January 2010}}]
The name of the genus is derived from ''Nikátōr'' (Νικάτωρ), [Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) for 'conqueror'.[{{Cite book| last = Jobling| first = James A.| title = A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names| publisher = Oxford University Press| year = 1991| page = 160| isbn = 0-19-854634-3 }}] Within the genus, the western and eastern nicators are considered to form a superspecies and are sometimes treated as the same species.