Systematics

None.

Frequently called “Large-billed Flycatcher.” The Spanish common name in Galapagos is “Papamoscas.”

The species was described by Gould (1839) as Tyrannula magnirostris Gould 1839, with no locality. However, as it was collected on Beagle expedition, the type locality is presumed to be Chatham (=San Cristóbal) Island, Galapagos Islands.

The species Myiarchus magnirostris formerly was placed in a separate monotypic genus, Eribates, (e.g., Ridgway 1907, Hellmayr 1927), based on a longer tarsus. Traylor (1977), however, merged it into Myiarchus, where it has remained.

Morphologically, the Galapagos Flycatcher appears most closely related to Myiarchus tyrannulus. In playback experiments, Galapagos Flycatcher has shown response to voices only of M. tyrannulus and M. nugator, further suggesting a close relationship to the Myiarchus tyrannulus group (Lanyon 1978). Although there are some recent phylogenetic studies of Myiarchus based on analysis of DNA sequence data (Joseph et al. 2003, 2004), Myiarchus magnirostris has not been included to date in this research.