Old World babbler
Babblers | |
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Pin-striped tit-babbler, (Mixornis gularis) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Superfamily: | Sylvioidea |
Family: | Timaliidae Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 |
Genera | |
See article text |
The Old World babblers or Timaliidae are a
Characteristics
Timaliids are small to medium birds. They have strong legs, and many are quite terrestrial. They typically have generalised bills, similar to those of a thrush or warbler, except for the scimitar babblers which, as their name implies, have strongly decurved bills. Most have predominantly brown plumage, with minimal difference between the sexes, but many more brightly coloured species also exist.[1]
This group is not strongly migratory, and most species have short rounded wings, and a weak flight. They live in lightly wooded or scrubland environments, ranging from swamp to near-desert. They are primarily insectivorous, although many will also take berries, and the larger species will even eat small lizards and other vertebrates.[1]
Typical babblers live in communities of around a dozen birds, jointly defending a territory. Many even breed communally, with a dominant pair building a nest, and the remainder helping to defend and rear their young. Young males remain with the group, while females move away to find a new group, and thus avoid inbreeding. They make nests from twigs, and hide them in dense vegetation.[1]
Taxonomy and systematics
The systematics of Old World babblers have long been contested. During much of the 20th century, the family was used as a "
The most obviously misplaced
The phylogenetic relationships between Timaliidae and other families was determined in a
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The cladogram below shows the relationships between the genera. These were determined in the same study by Cai and collaborators.[3][4]
Timaliidae |
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List of genera
The family as currently constituted includes 58 species divided into the following ten genera:[4]
Image | Genus | Living species |
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Erythrogenys Baker, 1930 – scimitar-babblers |
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Pomatorhinus Horsfield, 1821 – scimitar-babblers |
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Spelaeornis David & Oustalet, 1877 – typical wren-babblers |
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Stachyris Hodgson, 1844 |
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Cyanoderma Salvadori, 1874[5] |
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Dumetia Blyth, 1852 |
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Mixornis Blyth, 1842 – tit-babblers |
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Macronus Jardine & Selby, 1835 – tit-babblers |
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Timalia Horsfield, 1821 |
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Melanocichla Sharpe, 1883 |
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References
- ^ ISBN 1-85391-186-0.
- ^ Hartert, Ernst (1910). Die Vögel der paläarktischen Fauna systematische Übersicht der in Europa, Nord-Asien und der Mittelmeerregion vorkommenden Vögel (in German). Vol. 1. Berlin: R. Friedländer & Sohn. p. 469.
- ^ PMID 30321696.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Babblers & fulvettas". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ Collar, N. J.; Robson, C. (2016). "Scimitar-babblers and allies". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D. A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2: Passerines. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
External links
- Babbler videos on the Internet Bird Collection