Brachypteryx is a genus of passerine birds in the family Muscicapidae containing ten species known as shortwings, that occurs in southeast Asia.

They are shy elusive ground-dwellers that generally prefer the cover of dense undergrowth.

[2] The genus Brachypteryx was introduced by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield in 1821.

[4] The genus was previously placed in the thrush family Turdidae but in 2010 two separate molecular phylogenetic studies found that species in the genus were more closely related to members of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

[5][6] The genus contains the following ten species:[7] Whilst the Javan and rusty-bellied shortwings show strong sexual plumage dimorphism, the lesser shortwing is sexually monomorphic.