 The ancestral "Myioborus" warblers, together with those in the genus "Basileuterus" seem to have colonised South America early, perhaps before it was linked to the northern continent, and these two genera provide most of the resident warbler species of that region.The name "redstart" is commonly used in Central and North America, while "whitestart" has gained wider use in South America.Whitestart is the name used for all species in this genus by the , while the Clements checklist, and the American Ornithological Society's North and South American Classification Committeess use "redstart".