Sylvioidea II

Passerines

Tyranni: Suboscines

Passeri: Oscines

Passerida

Sylvioidea
Muscicapoidea and allies
Passeroidea

The 44 Orders

Paleognaths

Galloanserae

Metaves

Pelecanae

Charadriae

Passerae

Wren-Babblers, Bulbuls, and Cisticolas

Pnoepygidae: Wren-Babblers

2 genera, 7 species Not HBW Family

Gelang et al. (2009) found that the Pnoepyga wren-babblers do not belong to any of the extant Sylvioidea families, even though it is nested well inside Sylvioidea, perhaps close to Pycnonotidae and Cisticolidae. They recommend placing it in its own family. They only sequenced two of the Pnoepyga. Elachura has been thought to be closely related, and some or all of the Spelaeornis have previously been placed in Pnoepyga, so it is possible some of them belong near Pnoepyga. Although they have not been sequenced, I'm guessing that Elachura formosus and Spelaeornis caudatus and badeigularis belong near Pnoepyga based on plumage and structure. I don't have an alternative name for the two Spelaeornis, but given their appearance, it seems plausible to move them into Elachura, at least for now. Spelaeornis chocolatinus definitely belongs in Timaliidae, and I've leff the other Spelaeornis wren-babblers there.

Pycnonotidae: Bulbuls

28 genera, 144 species HBW-10

Pycnonotidae tree The bulbul family Pycnonotidae has seen some change in composition, but the biggest change has been an interal reorganization.

Genera formerly considered bulbuls include Nicator, now in its own family, Nicatoridae; Bernieria and Xanthomixis, now in Bernieridae; the vanga Tylas; and the sugarbird Arcanator. Finally, Lioptilus belongs in Sylviidae. There had been some question whether Neolestes was a bulbul or not. Zuccon and Ericson (2010b) showed that it is a bulbul.

Pasquet et al. (2001) found two clades, the African greenbuls and the mostly Asian bulbuls. They also argued in favor of restructing some genera. The more recent papers by Moyle and Marks (2006) and Johansson et al. (2007b) sampled a large fraction of the species and permitted a comprehensive phyogenetic reorganization of the family. That said, the coverage of Pycnonotinae was less satsifactory. This has been partially remedied by Oliveros (2009) and Oliveros and Moyle (2010), which add more data on Philippine bulbuls to the Moyle and Marks (2006) data set. Zuccon and Ericson (2010b) included additional genetic data in their analysis.

Several genera have been reorganized. The formerly large genus Andropadus has been split into several 4 genera, including Stelgidillas, Eurillas, and Arizelocichla. Atimastillas is split from Chlorocichla. The Red-tailed Leaf-love (formerly Pyrrhurus scandens) is included in Phyllastrephus. Criniger has been split into the African Criniger and Asian Alophoixus.

It's still not clear whether Pycnonotus is monophyletic (see HBW-10). However, it's getting closer. For some time, Pycnonotus has been overlumped. I've placed several former Pycnonotus species in Microtarsus, which appears as a basal group in Pycnonotinae (Moyle and Marks, 2006; Oliveros, 2009; Oliveros and Moyle, 2010). I had previously split part of Pycnonotus into Euptilosus, and Brachypodius, but it now seems clear they are better merged into Microtarsus. Finally, several species often placed in Pycnonotus are separated in the restored genus Rubigula.

I've also the Philippine members of Ixos into Hypsipetes, which has also absorbed Microscelis. The results of Oliveros (2009) and Oliveros and Moyle (2010) also allow an alternative treatment, placing the former Ixos in a separate genus.

I have included the Bare-faced Bulbul, Pycnonotus hualon, described by Woxvold et al. (2009). Where exactly this goes in Pycnonotus is unclear, but after reading Woxvold et al. carefully, this is my best guess. As the authors note, Pycnonotus itself needs revision.

Oliveros (2009) and Oliveros and Moyle (2010) note several subspecies that appear to deserve species rank. Two species contain two or more separate clades, thus Pycnonotus cinereifrons (Pycnonotus plumosus cinereifrons), Ixos guimarasensis (Ixos philippinus guimarasensis), and Ixos mindorensis (Ixos philippinus mindorensis), should be separated as distinct species. None of these currently have English names, and I will not add them to the main list at this time. Further, there are indications that Alophoixus bres frater, Pycnonotus urostictus atricaudatus, and one or more of the subspecies of Pycnonotus goiavier and Hypsipetes amaurotis should be considered distinct species, but these cases involve additional complexities.

Crinigerinae: Greenbuls

Pycnonotinae: Bulbuls

Cisticolidae: Cisticolas

27 genera, 156 species HBW-11

Cisticolidae tree The cisticola family has grown since Sibley and Ahquist (1990) separated it from the Sylviidae. Gains include Eremomela, Neomixis (except flavoviridis, now in Hartertula), Phyllolais. Poliolais and most of Orthotomus (except two species). Rhopophilus has been lost to the Sylviidae. Following Nguembock et al. (2008a), I've moved the Black-collared Apalis and Ruwenzori Apalis to Oreolais, which is sister to Artisornis. Like the Artisornis, the Oreolais have 10 rather than 12 rectrices. Also, Mrs. Moreau's Warbler and the recently split Rubeho Warbler are now listed in the genus Scepomycter.

The arrangment of the genera is based on Alström et al. (2006), Johansson et al. (2008b), and Nguembock et al. (2007, 2008a).

Hyliidae, Aegithalidae, Cettiidae, and Phylloscopidae

Hyliidae: Hylias

2 genera, 2 species Not HBW Family

I've put the Hylias in a separate family based on Johanssen et al. (2008), although I'm not entirely confident about this. Classification of the Tit-Hylia (Pholidornis rushiae) has long been controversial. It has variously been placed in at least 7 other families: Sylviidae, Estrildidae, Dicaeidae, Nectariniidae, Remizidae, Hyliidae and Meliphagidae.

Aegithalidae: Long-tailed Tits

4 genera, 13 species HBW-13

Aegithalidae tree Leptopoecile has been included in Aegithalidae rather than Sylviidae based on Sturmbauer et al. (1998), Alstöm et al. (2006), Johansson et al. (2008b), and Päckert et al. (2010).

The current arrangement of Aegithalos is based on the results of Päckert et al. (2010). However, they found that the last four species A. bonvaloti through A. sharpei are extremely close genetically, close enough to call into serious question whether they are separate species. Nonetheless, they appear distinct and, according to HBW-13, there is no evidence of interbreeding in areas of overlap. Päckert et al. also found quite large genetic differences between the various races of A. concinnus, suggesting several species are involved. This had previously been suspected based on plumage, but the presence of zones of intergradation has kept them lumped together. Unfortunately, Päckert et al. did not examine the entire concinnus complex, so the situation is not entirely clear, even without the complication of intergrades. Until more information is available, I leave the species limits unchanged.

Cettiidae: Cettid Warblers

9 genera, 34 species Not HBW Family

Cettiidae tree We briefly moved back to familiar territory with the swallows and then the long-tailed tits. The long-tailed tits seem to be the sister group of another new family, the cettid bush-warblers (Cettiidae). This group has an primarily African and Asian distribution

The Phyllergates tailorbirds were formerly placed among the cisticolas in the genus Orthotomus (see Alström et al., 2006; Fuchs et al., 2006a). The Odedi Bush-Warbler is a recent discovery (LeCroy and Barker, 2006). Its song had been heard by Jared Diamond in 1972, but the bird was not tracked down until recently. Hadden was able to mist-net the bird in 2000.

The arrangement of genera is based on Alström et al. (2006), Fuchs et al. (2006a), and Johansson et al. (2008b). The genus Cettia as usually constituted is polyphyletic. For now, I'm reviving Horeites for most of Cettia, as was in common use up to circa 1950. The new view, like the old view, is that Cettia itself is monotypic. Horeites was sometimes further subdivided, but these birds are very similar and I don't see a particular reason to do so. LeCroy and Barker (2006) and Olsson et al. (2006) sort out many of Horeites's members, although I'm not sure where the first three of Horeites fit in.

Phylloscopidae: Leaf-Warblers

2 genera, 76 species Not HBW Family

These are followed by the leaf-warblers (Phylloscopidae), which is a new family consisting of about 70 species in two genera formerly belonging to the Sylviidae. The taxonomy here is primarily based on Johansson et al. (2007a) and Olsson et al. (2005), with Irwin et al. (2005) and Martens et al. (2008) filling in some details. The resulting changes moved many species from Phylloscopus to Seicercus. Besides the division into the new Phylloscopus and Seicercus, both papers agree on several clades within Seicercus. These are (1) S. umbrovirens to S. soror (labelled Seicercus on the tree); (2) S. castaniceps, montis, and grammiceps; (3) S. cebuensis to S. ijimae; (4) S. borealis through S. plumbeitarsus; and (5) S. cantator to the end. They also agree that clades 4 and 5 are sisters. Olsson et al. (2004) has yet another topology, but the same clades appear, including the basic split into the new Phylloscopus and Seicercus. Previously, clades 3-5, and part of 1 were considered Phylloscopus.

I've handled the Seicercus trochiloides complex in an unusual way. This includes nitidus, viridanus, trochiloides, obscuratus, plumbeitarsus and S. v. ludlowli (or at least part of it). Irwin et al. (2001) found two groups. The first comprised of nitidus and viridanus, the second including trochiloides, obscuratus, and plumbeitarsus in a trichotomy. Although ludlowli had its own clade, it was too closely related to viridis to separate. This gives us several choices: lump them all, split the first group (which are more distantly related) and lump the second, or split them all. I take the last option here.

In contrast, BLI and Clements lump them all, which is defensible. Sibley and Monroe, Dickinson, IOC, and HBW take a different route. They split trochiloides and plumbeitarsus. This is not consistent with Irwin et al.'s results. It conflicts with the status of obscuratus as an equal member of the trichotomy. It also includes taxa from both groups in trochiloides.

For information concerning the newly recognized Limestone Leaf-Warbler, Seicercus calciatilis, see Alström et al. (2010).

Previous Page Next Page