Basal Oscines

Passerines

Tyranni: Suboscines

Passeri: Oscines

Passerida

Sylvioidea
Muscicapoidea and allies
Passeroidea

The 47 Orders

Palaeognathae

Galloanserae

Columbimorphae

Otidimorphae

Strisores

Opisthocomiformes

Gruiformes

Mirandornithes

Ardeae

Charadriiformes

Telluraves

Afroaves

Australaves

Oscines: Passeri Linnaeus, 1766

Although the oscines and suboscines are readily identified, the proper classification of the oscines remained obscure for a long time. Sibley, Ahlquist, and Monroe took the first step of gathering the corvids together (albeit imperfectly). Their idea was that the oscines divided into two large groups, Corvida and Passerida. Their efforts were reflected in innovative checklists such as Gill's family list (1995) and the 3rd edition Howard-Moore checklist, both of which did a lot to group these birds in reasonable families. Contemporary checklists of a more traditional sort, such as Clements 5th edition list place the corvid assemblage all over the map.

Sibley and Ahlquist's view was that the remaining passerines split cleanly into a corvid group (Corvida) and a group containing everything else (Passerida). Further study has shown that reality is more complex. Unlike the Passerida, their version of the corvids was not a monophyletic group. Rather, their Corvida included a number of basal oscines as well as some basal Passerida. Nonetheless, further analysis has revealed a core group (Corvida) that is sister to the Passerida.

Basal Oscines

The Basal Oscines include ten families—Lyrebirds, Scrub-birds, Australasian Treecreepers, Bowerbirds, Australian Wrens, Bristlebirds, Pardalotes and Gerygones, Honeyeaters, Logrollers, and Australian Babblers arranged into four higher order groups which branch off separately before the split between the Corvida and Passerida (see Ericson et al., 2002a; Barker et al., 2004; Irestedt and Ohlson, 2008).

Basal Oscine Tree

It is striking how the initial oscine radiation was confined to Australasia. We see this in the distribution of the basal oscines. All of the Menurida, Climacterida, and Pomatostomida are Australasian. Only Meliphagida has any species outside the area. Even there, two of the four families (Maluridae and Dasyornithidae) are also entirely Australasian. Further, only one of Pardalotidae crosses Wallace's line—the Golden-bellied Gerygone. That leaves the Meliphagidae, which have spread widely across Australasia and Oceania, with several species coming near Wallace's line. Even so, only one of them, the Indonesian Honeyeater, manages to ranges even barely into Indo-Malaya.

Jønsson et al. (2011b) offers some evidence concerning a possible relation between the emergence of the proto-Papuan archipelago and the oscine radiation. The New Scientist has a summary.

Menurida Sharpe, 1891

The first basal oscine branch, Menurida, is endemic to Australia. It consists of the lyrebirds (Menuridae) and scrub-birds (Atrichornithidae). Ericson et al. (2002b) found the Menurida sister to the rest of the oscines, but did not include scrub-birds in his analysis. Morphological analyses had placed the scrub-birds next to the lyrebirds. A genetic analysis by Chesser and ten Have (2007) concurs that the lyrebirds and scrub-birds are sister families, and also concurs with basic tree we present here. For a discussion of the history of lyrebird and scrub-bird taxonomy, see Ericson et al. (2002b) and Chesser and ten Have (2007), respectively.

Menuridae: Lyrebirds Lesson, 1828

1 genus, 2 species HBW-9

Atrichornithidae: Scrub-birds Stejneger, 1885 (1875)

1 genus, 2 species HBW-9

Climacterida Informal

The Climacterida, Meliphagida, and Orthonychida don't appear to have been formally named. They tend to be lumped together under terms such as “basal Corvida”. Nonetheless, it's been clear to many that there are 4-5 distinct clades here. I find it convenient for them to have names, so I've been using the first 3 since 2007, and started regarding the last as a parvorder in Feb. 2011.

Climacterida The Climacterida are the next branch. There are two families here: Australasian treecreepers (Climacteridae) and bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchidae). These families are endemic to Australasia.

The overall taxonomy is based on Ericson et al. (2002b) for Climactrida, and Christidis et al. (1996) and Kusmierski et al. (1997) for the bowerbirds.

Climacteridae: Australasian Treecreepers de Selys-Longchamps, 1839

2 genera, 7 species HBW-12

Ptilonorhynchidae: Bowerbirds G.R. Gray, 1841

6 genera, 27 species HBW-14

Ptilonorhynchidae
Click for Ptilonorhynchidae species tree

The overall organization of the Ptilonorhynchidae is based on Christidis et al. (1996) and Kusmierski et al. (1997). I've used two subfamilies, Ailuroedinae (catbirds) and Ptilonorhynchinae (bowerbirds) because Irestedt et al. (2016) indicates they have been separate for around 20 million years. There is some uncertainty about which branch of bowerbirds the Tooth-billed Bowerbird belongs to, or whether it is basal in the bowerbird subfamily (see Christidis et al., 1996 and Kusmierski et al., 1997). I am treating it as being sister to Amblyornis, as in Kusmierski et al. (1997).

I have accepted a number of splits in the Ailuroedus catbirds that were recommended by Irestedt et al. (2016) and adopted by IOC. They are:

Based on Zwiers et al. (2008), Sericulus ardens, has been split from Sericulus aureus. Interestingly, they are not each other's closest relatives. The name Flame Bowerbird follows S. ardens while S. aureus becomes Masked Bowerbird.

Ailuroedinae: Catbirds Iredale, 1948

Ptilonorhynchinae: Bowerbirds G.R. Gray, 1841

Meliphagida Informal

There are four families in the Meliphagida: Australasian wrens (Maluridae), bristlebirds (Dasyornithidae), gerygones and allies (Pardalotidae), and honeyeaters (Meliphagidae). We follow the order in Gardner et al. (2010). The Dasyornithidae have sometimes been included in Pardalotidae. However, the DNA shows that the Dasyornithidae are a separate branch of the Meliphagida.

Maluridae: Australasian Wrens Swainson, 1831

5 genera, 32 species HBW-12

Maluridae
Click for Maluridae tree

The Maluridae are another family that is restricted to Australia and New Guinea. The arrangement here is based on Marki et al. (2017), and is similar to one previously obtained from Lee et al. (2012), Christidis et al. (2010) (Amytornis), and Driskell et al. (2011) (the other genera).

The two subfamilies are thought to have originated around the end of the Oligocene or beginning of the Miocene (Marki et al., 2017).

Driskell et al. (2011) found that the broad-billed fairywrens were more closely related to Sipodotus and Clytomyias than to the rest of Malurus. They recommend putting them in a separate genus, Chenorhamphus (Oustalet 1878, type grayi), which I have done here.

Although Driskell et al. (2011) found that the Lovely Fairywren, M. amabilis is nested within the Variegated Fairywren, M. lamberti, a more detailed analysis by McLean et al. determined that they are sister species. This is consistent with reports that assimilis interbreeds with lamberti where they meet.

Based on Black et al. (2010) and Christidis et al. (2010), Thick-billed Grasswren, Amytornis textilis, is split into Western Grasswren, Amytornis textilis, and Thick-billed Grasswren, Amytornis modestus.

Based on Christidis et al. (2010, 2013), Pilbara Grasswren, Amytornis whitei, Sandhill Grasswren, Amytornis oweni, and Rusty Grasswren, Amytornis rowleyi, have been split from Striated Grasswren, Amytornis striatus.

Amytornithinae: Grasswrens Matthews, 1946

  • Gray Grasswren, Amytornis barbatus
  • Short-tailed Grasswren, Amytornis merrotsyi
  • White-throated Grasswren, Amytornis woodwardi
  • Carpentarian Grasswren, Amytornis dorotheae
  • Pilbara Grasswren, Amytornis whitei
  • Sandhill Grasswren, Amytornis oweni
  • Rusty Grasswren, Amytornis rowleyi
  • Striated Grasswren, Amytornis striatus
  • Western Grasswren, Amytornis textilis
  • Thick-billed Grasswren, Amytornis modestus
  • Black Grasswren, Amytornis housei
  • Eyrean Grasswren, Amytornis goyderi
  • Dusky Grasswren, Amytornis purnelli
  • Kalkadoon Grasswren, Amytornis ballarae

    • Malurinae: Fairywrens Swainson, 1831

    Dasyornithidae: Bristlebirds Sibley & Ahlquist, 1985

    1 genus, 3 species HBW-12

    The bristlebirds are endemic to Australia. Marki et al. (2017) found that the Rufous Bristlebird is basal in this family.

    Pardalotidae: Gerygones and allies Strickland, 1842

    15 genera, 69 species HBW-13

    Pardalotidae
    Click for genus-level tree for Pardalotidae

    The Pardalotidae are primarily Australasian, with ranges east and south of Wallace's line. However, there is one exception—the Golden-bellied Gerygone. It ranges north to the Philippines and west to Malaysia and Sumatra.

    Two papers by Norman et al. led to some adjustment of the family. Norman et al. (2009a) showed that the mohouas are not part of Pardalotidae, but rather belong in Corvoidea (in fact, they are a separate family there). In a second paper, Norman et al. (2009b) showed that the Goldenface, Pachycare flavogriseum, does belong in Pardalotidae, not Pachycephalidae, Petroicidae, or anyplace else that had previously been suggested.

    The Acanthizidae have been merged with the Pardalotidae in the TiF list. Traditionally, the differences between these taxa have been considered relatively small, with all of them sometimes placed in a single family with the bristlebirds. We now know that the bristlebirds do not belong in this group, but that the remainder form a natural group of broadly similar species. I think such a group is best treated as a single family, and the name Pardalotidae has priority.

    Although early genetic results had suggested that the pardalotes were more closely related to the honeyeaters than to the gerygones and thornbills, that seems to be incorrect. E.g., Marki et al. (2017). Relatively complete analyses, such as Gardner et al. (2010), Jønsson et al. (2011b), and Nyári (2011) have found that the pardalotes form a clade with the former Acanthizidae. Marki et al. (2017) found a clade consisting of the pardalotes, Fernwren and Goldenface, and the former Acanthizidae. The divisions between the three parts are deep enough that each could be considered a separate family. I have opted to treat them as subfamilies within Pardalotidae.

    There are two names that could apply to the Fernwren/Goldenface subfamily. Schodde and Christidis (2014) introduced the names Pachycareinae and Oreoscopinae. Since they did not give either priority over the other, a first reviser action is required to determine the correct name. I'm currently using Pachycareinae since it appears first in Schodde and Christidis. I don't treat them as separate subfamilies because Marki et al. (2017) found the division between them to be much shallower than the 3 deep divisions, which date back to 20-25 mya. In contrast, the Fernwren and Goldenface are probably separated by less than 15 million years.

    It would not be unreasonable to divide the subfamily Acanthizinae into three tribes: Gerygonini (gerygones), Acanthizini (thornbills), Sericornithini (scrubwrens). The membership is rather obvious on either the genus or species tree and Marki et al. (2017) placed their common ancestors date back to around 15mya.

    I originally developed the genus-level phylogenetic tree based on Gardner et al. (2010) and Nyári and Joseph (2012), with some help from Norman et al. (2009b), Nicholls et al. (2000), and Christidis et al. (1988). Subsequently, Marki et al. (2017) included all but one of the Pardalotidae in their analysis. The only change to the genus tree was the elimination of Crateroscelis. It was not a monophyletic group. The Rusty and Mountain Mouse-warblers have joined Origma and the Bicolored Mouse-warbler is now in Sericornis.

    Christidis and Boles (2008) was also consulted during the process. I've decided to use their generic limits, putting the heathwrens in Hylacola and the Speckled Warbler in Chthonicola.

    Pardalotinae: Pardalotes Strickland, 1842

    Pachycareinae: Goldenface and Fernwren Schodde and Christidis, 2014

  • Goldenface, Pachycare flavogriseum
  • Fernwren, Oreoscopus gutturalis

    • Acanthizinae: Gerygones, Thornbills, Scrubwrens Bonaparte, 1854

  • Yellow-bellied Gerygone, Gerygone chrysogaster
  • Brown Gerygone, Gerygone mouki
  • Fairy Gerygone, Gerygone palpebrosa
  • Green-backed Gerygone, Gerygone chloronota
  • Plain Gerygone, Gerygone inornata
  • Rufous-sided Gerygone, Gerygone dorsalis
  • White-throated Gerygone, Gerygone olivacea
  • Golden-bellied Gerygone, Gerygone sulphurea
  • Dusky Gerygone, Gerygone tenebrosa
  • Fan-tailed Gerygone, Gerygone flavolateralis
  • Mangrove Gerygone, Gerygone levigaster
  • Western Gerygone, Gerygone fusca
  • Large-billed Gerygone, Gerygone magnirostris
  • Biak Gerygone, Gerygone hypoxantha
  • Brown-breasted Gerygone, Gerygone ruficollis
  • Lord Howe Gerygone, Gerygone insularis
  • Norfolk Gerygone, Gerygone modesta
  • Gray Gerygone, Gerygone igata
  • Chatham Gerygone, Gerygone albofrontata
  • Scrubtit, Acanthornis magna
  • Southern Whiteface, Aphelocephala leucopsis
  • Banded Whiteface, Aphelocephala nigricincta
  • Chestnut-breasted Whiteface, Aphelocephala pectoralis
  • Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza chrysorrhoa
  • Gray Thornbill, Acanthiza cinerea
  • New Guinea Thornbill, Acanthiza murina
  • Yellow Thornbill, Acanthiza nana
  • Striated Thornbill, Acanthiza lineata
  • Inland Thornbill, Acanthiza apicalis
  • Tasmanian Thornbill, Acanthiza ewingii
  • Mountain Thornbill, Acanthiza katherina
  • Brown Thornbill, Acanthiza pusilla
  • Slender-billed Thornbill, Acanthiza iredalei
  • Slaty-backed Thornbill, Acanthiza robustirostris
  • Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza uropygialis
  • Western Thornbill, Acanthiza inornata
  • Buff-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza reguloides
  • Weebill, Smicrornis brevirostris
  • Pilotbird, Pycnoptilus floccosus
  • Redthroat, Pyrrholaemus brunneus
  • Speckled Warbler, Chthonicola sagittatus
  • Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, Hylacola pyrrhopygia
  • Shy Heathwren, Hylacola cauta
  • Striated Fieldwren, Calamanthus fuliginosus
  • Rufous Fieldwren, Calamanthus campestris
  • Western Fieldwren, Calamanthus montanellus
  • Mountain Mouse-warbler, Origma robusta
  • Rusty Mouse-warbler, Origma murina
  • Rockwarbler, Origma solitaria
  • Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Sericornis citreogularis
  • Pale-billed Scrubwren, Sericornis spilodera
  • Bicolored Mouse-warbler, Sericornis nigrorufus
  • Gray-green Scrubwren, Sericornis arfakianus
  • Papuan Scrubwren, Sericornis papuensis
  • Vogelkop Scrubwren, Sericornis rufescens
  • Buff-faced Scrubwren, Sericornis perspicillatus
  • Tasmanian Scrubwren, Sericornis humilis
  • White-browed Scrubwren, Sericornis frontalis
  • Atherton Scrubwren, Sericornis keri
  • Large-billed Scrubwren, Sericornis magnirostra
  • Tropical Scrubwren, Sericornis beccarii
  • Perplexing Scrubwren, Sericornis virgatus
  • Large Scrubwren, Sericornis nouhuysi

    • Meliphagidae: Honeyeaters Vigors, 1825

    53 genera, 188 species HBW-13

    Meliphagidae
    Click for Meliphagidae species tree

    Although they have spread widely. The Meliphagidae are primarily Australasian. Some of them have colonized various islands in Oceania, and several have spread into Wallacea, including the Lesser Sundas, Moluccas, and Sulawesi, but only one occurs outside Australasia and Oceania. That is the Indonesian Honeyeater. It barely crosses Wallace's line into Bali, which is considered part of Indo-Malaya (aka the Oriental Region).

    What is a Honeyeater?

    As with many passerine families, one of the basic questions that DNA addresses is which species belong in the family. The honeyeaters have seen a number of changes. They were substantially restructured by Sibley and Ahlquist (1990), losing the genera Cleptornis (Passerida), Oedistoma and Toxorhamphus (Melanocharitidae), and Promerops (Promeropidae), but gaining Epthianura and Ashbyia from the defunct Epthianuridae. Sibley and Ahlquist's addition of the Epthianura and Ashbyia to the honeyeaters has been supported by the more recent studies of Driskell and Christidis (2004) and Nyári and Joseph (2011).

    Spring et al. (1995) found that the Bonin Honeyeater, Apalopteron familiare is not a honeyeater, but rather belongs in the Passerida (more precisely, Zosteropidae). More recently, Cracraft and Feinstein (2000) found that MacGregor's Bird-of-paradise, Macgregoria pulchra, is actually a honeyeater, while Ewen et al. (2006) and Driskell et al. (2007) found that the Stitchbird, Notiomystis cincta belongs near the Callaeidae, where it becomes a monotypic family. The now-extinct Hawaiian honeyeaters (genera Moho and Chaetoptila) were formerly considered to be part of this family, but they have recently been found to be related to waxwings (Fleischer et al., 2008).

    The composition of the honeyeater family is not all that needed to be sorted out. The phylogeny has also undergone some changes. The current understanding of honeyeater phylogeny was gradually built up from Driskell and Christidis (2004), Cracraft and Feinstein (2000), Norman et al. (2007), Higgins et al. (2008 = HBW-13), Gardner et al. (2010), Nyári and Joseph (2011), Andersen et al. (2014a), and Joseph et al. (2014a).

    Then Marki et al. (2017) published an almost complete species-level phylogeny of the entire family. Their phylogeny has 9 major clades (treated as tribes) which I've arranged into 4 subfamilies. The arrangement of the tribes and subfamilies has been unstable in previous analyses. It is not clear that Marki et al. are the last word on this. Moyle et al.'s (2016) study using thousands of ultraconserved elements included honeyeaters from 4 tribes. The supplementary material made clear that different ways of analyzing the data yielded different honeyeater phylogenies. Perhaps the inclusion of so many taxa by Marki et al. (2017) has sorted this out.

    Honeyeater Subfamiles

    Joseph et al. (2014a) were the first authors to consider Myza. They found that the two Myzas form a basal clade, here called Myzinae. The Myzinae branch is quite deep and may date to the end of the Oligocene. Such old clades are often considered separate families. The rest of the honeyeaters fell into 3 major clades, also ranked here as subfamilies.

    The next subfamily is Gliciphilinae. It also contains 3 tribes: Acanthorhynchini, Gliciphilini, and Epthianurini.

    The two spinebills lead off (Acanthorhynchini). They seem to be most closely related to Prosthemaderini, which contains several New Zealand endemics. Although I had previously placed Pycnopygius in this group, it turns out that only two of its species belong here. The type species is the Streak-headed Honeyeater, Pycnopygius stictocephalus, which moves to Philimonini. That leaves the other two without a genus name, so they are "Pycnopygius" for now.

    Note that Gliciphila has absorbed Glycifohia and that it belongs in Gliciphilini, sister to the Glycichaera/Ptiloprora clade (Andersen et al., 2014a). The Short-bearded Melidectes, Melidectes nouhuysi, and Long-bearded Melidectes, Melidectes princeps, do not belong in Melidectes (Meliphaginae). They have been separated as Melionyx which is sister to Ptiloprora.

    Epthianurini contains the Australian Chats as well as various honeyeaters. The chats were once considered a separate family. The basal member of the tribe is the Gray Honeyeater, formerly Conopophila whitei. It has been placed in the monotypic genus Lacustroica as a result. In their study of MacGregor's “Bird-of-paradise”, Cracraft and Feinstein (2000) included representatives of four subfamilies. This was enough to show that Macgregoria is in the Epthianurinae. Joseph et al. (2014a) and Marki et al. (2017) confirmed it is sister to Melipotes.

    The honeyeater clade Meliphaginae is next. Due to a deep genetic division found by Joseph et al. (2014a) and clarified by Marki et al. (2017), all but three Meliphaga have been moved to Oreornis (Van Oort 1910, type chrysogenys), even though all but the three streaked species (albilineatus, fordianus and reticulatus) are very similar to the three Meliphaga.

    In Meliphagine the big news is the restructuring of Lichenostomus. Gardner et al. (2010) had shown that Lichenostomus was polyphyletic, even after removing Nesoptilotis. Nyári and Joseph (2011) carried out a complete analysis of Lichenostomus using the mitochondrial ND2 and nuclear β-fibrinogen-7 genes. Their results were generally consistent with Gardner et al. (2010), but revealed some additional surprises that require further dismemberment of Lichenostomus and the use of three more genera: Bolemoreus, Caligavis, and Stomiopera. The Bridled Honeyeater (frenatus) and Eungella Honeyeater (hindwoodi) turn out to be sister to the wattlebirds plus Acanthagenys. Nyári and Joseph (2011) created the new genus Bolemoreus (type frenata) to accomodate them.

    The other pieces of the former Lichenostomus run in a grade from Pitlotula to the miners (Manorina). The first clade is divided into two genera. Singing through Mangrove Honeyeaters take the name Gavicalis (Schodde and Mason 1999, type virescens) while for the Gray-fronted through Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters, the name Ptilotula (Mathews 1912, type flavescens) has priority Paraptilotis (Mathews 1912, type fuscus) because Ptilotula was chosen as a subgenus name by Schodde and Mason (1999) in preference to Paraptilotis. Then come the White-gaped and Yellow Honeyeaters, for which the name Stomiopera is available (Reichenbach 1852, type unicolor). This group is followed by three more former Lichenostomus honeyeater, now placed in Caligavis (Iredale 1956, type obscura). The Lichenostomus grade is interrupted by Purnella albifrons, sometimes placed in Phylidonyris. Then we finally reach the remaining Lichenostomus, now reduced to two species.

    This brings us to the final subfamily: Philemoninae. In the phylogeny based on Joseph et al. (2014a) and Marki et al. (2017) it consists of 4 tribes: Phylidonyrini, Melithreptini, Philemonini, and Myzomelini.

    Phylidonyrini contains another former member of Certhionyx, the Banded Honeyeater, Cissomela pectoralis, as well as Phylidonyris (now including Trichodere) and Lichmera. Phylidonyrini is sister to Melithreptini.

    Melithreptini leads off with two species that have been moved from Lichenostomus and placed in genus Nesoptilotis (Mathews 1913, type flavicollis): White-eared Honeyeater, Nesoptilotis leucotis, and Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Nesoptilotis flavicollis. These are rather different from the rest of the former Lichenostomus, so it's not surprising that they end up in a different genus. I had originally made this change based on Higgins et al. (2008) and Gardner et al. (2010), before DNA data was available for both species. It is also supported by the complete analysis of Lichenostomus of Nyári and Joseph (2011).

    Based on Toon et al. (2010), Gilbert's Honeyeater, Melithreptus chloropsis has been split from White-naped Honeyeater, Melithreptus lunatus. They also found evidence that the White-throated Honeyeater, Melithreptus albogularis, may contain more than one species, but more study is necessary to clarify the situation.

    Based on Andersen et al. (2014), Giant Honeyeater, Foulehaio viridis, has been split into Yellow-billed Honeyeater, Gymnomyza viridis, and Giant Honeyeater, Gymnomyza brunneirostris.

    Following IOC 5.2, the English names of three Foulehaio honeyeaters have been changed:

    The next tribe is Philemonini, which contains the friarbirds and allied honeyeaters. The Hornbill Friarbird, Philemon yorki, has been split from Helmeted Friarbird, Philemon buceroides.

    The last tribe is Myzomelini. It consists of Myzomela together with some small genera. The basal group consists of the monotypic Sugomel together with the Scaly-crowned Honeyeater, Lichmera lombokia. The latter, which is surprisingly not at all close to Lichmera, has been placed in the temporary genus "Lichmera". Although Sugomel nigrum has often been placed in Certhionyx, Driskell and Christidis (2004) showed this was mistaken.

    Another surprise found by Marki et al. (2017) is that the White-streaked Friarbird, Melitograis gilolensis, does not belong with the other friarbirds. Rather it and the monotypic Vosea (Gilliard's Melidectes) are close to the myzomelas.

    The myzomelas are arranged as in Marki et al. (2017). Based on their phylogeny, I have split the Moluccan Myzomela, Myzomela simplex, including rubrotincta and mortyana, from Dusky Myzomela, Myzomela obscura.

    Myzinae: Myzas Informal

    Gliciphilinae Reichenbach, 1882

    Acanthorhynchini: Spinebills, NZ Bellbirds Mathews, 1946

    Gliciphilini Reichenbach, 1882

    Epthianurini: Australian Chats & allies Legge, 1887

    Meliphaginae: Honeyeaters, Wattlebirds, Miners Vigors, 1825

    Meliphagini: Honeyeaters, Wattlebirds, Miners Vigors, 1825

    Philemoninae: Friarbirds & allies Lesson, 1828

    Phylidonyrini Matthews, 1946

    Melithreptini G.R. Gray, 1841

    Philemonini: Friarbirds & allies Lesson, 1828

    Myzomelini: Myzomela & allies G.R. Gray, 1840

    Orthonychida Informal

    The last two basal oscine families are the logrunners (Orthonychidae) and Australasian babblers (Pomatostomidae). The massive multigene analysis of Aggerbeck et al. (2014) finds them to be sisters, albeit fairly deeply separated. They split off before the division between the Corvida and Passerida, which means they are in the basal oscines.

    Orthonychidae: Logrunners G.R. Gray, 1840

    1 genus, 3 species HBW-12

    The logrunners are found in Australia and New Guinea.

    Pomatostomidae: Australasian Babblers Schodde, 1975

    2 genera, 5 species HBW-12

    As befits their name, the Australasian babblers are found in Australia and New Guinea.

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