Pellorneidae
| Pellorneidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Puff-throated babbler | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Sylvioidea |
| Family: | Pellorneidae Delacour, 1946 |
| Genera | |
|
See article text | |
The ground babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire family was previously included in the Timaliidae.
Morphological diversity is rather high; most species resemble "warblers", jays or thrushes.
The family was introduced by the French-American ornithologist Jean Théodore Delacour in 1946.[1]
Characteristics
They are small to medium sized birds. They have strong legs, and many are quite terrestrial. They typically have generalised bills, similar to those of a thrush or warbler. Most have predominantly brown plumage, with minimal difference between the sexes, but many more brightly coloured species also exist.[2]
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.[2]
List of genera
The family includes 70 species divided into 15 genera:[3]
- Laticilla (2 species) – (moved here from Prinia in the Cisticolidae)[4]
- Alcippe (17 species)
- Ptilocichla (3 species)
- Napothera – atypical wren-babblers (8 species)
- Gampsorhynchus (2 species)
- Ptyrticus - monotypic, spotted thrush-babbler (Ptyrticus turdinus)
- Illadopsis (7 species)
- Jabouilleia – atypical scimitar-babblers (2 species)
- Rimator - wren-babblers (3 species)
- Malacocincla (5 species)
- Malacopteron (6 species)
- Trichastoma (3 species)
- Kenopia - monotypic, striped wren-babbler (Kenopia striata)
- Graminicola - grassbirds (2 species)
- Pellorneum (8 species)
References
- ↑ Delacour, Jean Théodore. "Les timaliinés". L'Oiseaux (in French). 16: 7–36.
- 1 2 Perrins, C. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph, ed. Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. pp. 188–190. ISBN 1-85391-186-0.
- ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Babblers & fulvettas". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ↑ Olsson, U.; Irestedt, M.; Sangster, G.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Alström, P. (2013). "Systematic revision of the avian family Cisticolidae based on a multi-locus phylogeny of all genera". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 66 (3). doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.11.004.
- Cibois, A. (2003). "Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of babblers (Timaliidae)". Auk. 120 (1): 35–54. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2003)120[0035:MDPOBT]2.0.CO;2.
- Collar, N. J., and C. Robson. 2007. Family Timaliidae (babblers). Pages 70–291 in J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, and D.A. Christie (editors), Handbook of the birds of the world. Volume12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
- Gelang, M.; Cibois, A.; Pasquet, E.; Olsson, U.; Alström, P.; Ericson, P.G.P. (2009). "Phylogeny of babblers (Aves, Passeriformes): major lineages, family limits and classification". Zoologica Scripta. 38 (3): 225–236. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00374.x.
- Pasquet, E., E. Bourdon, M. V. Kalyakin, and A. Cibois. 2006. The fulvettas (Alcippe, Timaliidae, Aves): a polyphyletic group. Zoologica Scripta 35: 559-566.