Songbird - Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy and Systematics

Under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy this suborder is divided into two "parvorders", Corvida and Passerida (standard taxonomic practice would rank these as infraorders). The families of suborder Passeri are listed below as being in either Corvida or Passerida.

However, this treatment has since turned out to be very much in error. In reality, there are three major superfamilies (though not exactly corresponding to the Sibley-Ahlquist arrangement) of Passerida, in addition to some minor lineages thereof. The "Corvida" are fictional, an artefact of the phenetic methodology. Instead the bulk of these form the large superfamily Corvoidea and the smaller Meliphagoidea, and there are a number of small basal groups.

  • Corvida
    • Menuridae: lyrebirds
    • Atrichornithidae: scrub birds
    • Climacteridae: Australian treecreepers
    • Maluridae: fairy-wrens, emu-wrens and grasswrens
    • Meliphagidae: honeyeaters and chats
    • Pardalotidae: pardalotes, scrubwrens, thornbills, and gerygones
    • Petroicidae: Australian robins
    • Orthonychidae: logrunners
    • Pomatostomidae: Australasian babblers
    • Cinclosomatidae: whipbirds and allies
    • Neosittidae: sittellas
    • Pachycephalidae: whistlers, shrike-thrushes, pitohuis and allies
    • Dicruridae: monarch flycatchers and allies
    • Campephagidae: cuckoo shrikes and trillers
    • Oriolidae: orioles and figbirds
    • Artamidae: woodswallows
    • Cracticidae: butcherbirds, currawongs and Australian Magpie
    • Pityriaseidae: Bornean Bristlehead
    • Paradisaeidae: birds of paradise
    • Corvidae: crows, magpies, and jays
    • Corcoracidae: White-winged Chough and Apostlebird
    • Irenidae: fairy-bluebirds
    • Laniidae: shrikes
    • Vireonidae: vireos
    • Ptilonorhynchidae: bowerbirds
    • †Turnagridae: Piopio
  • Passerida
    • Aegithalidae: long-tailed tits
    • Aegithinidae: ioras
    • Alaudidae: larks
    • Bombycillidae: waxwings and allies
    • Cardinalidae: cardinals
    • Callaeidae: kokako, saddleback and the extinct huia
    • Certhiidae: treecreepers
    • Chloropseidae: leafbirds
    • Cinclidae: dippers
    • Cisticolidae: cisticolas and allies
    • Dicaeidae: flowerpeckers
    • Drepanididae: Hawaiian honeycreepers
    • Emberizidae: buntings and American sparrows
    • Estrildidae: estrildid finches (waxbills, munias, etc.)
    • Eupetidae: rail-babbler
    • Hirundinidae: swallows and martins
    • Hypocoliidae: Hypocolius
    • Icteridae: American blackbirds, New World orioles, grackles and cowbirds.
    • †Mohoidae
    • Ptilogonatidae: silky flycatchers
    • Motacillidae: wagtails and pipits
    • Picathartidae: rockfowl
    • Prunellidae: accentor
    • Melanocharitidae: berrypeckers and longbills
    • Paramythiidae: tit berrypecker and crested berrypeckers
    • Passeridae: true sparrows
    • Parulidae: New World warblers
    • Thraupidae: tanagers and allies
    • Peucedramidae: Olive Warbler
    • Fringillidae: true finches
    • Nectariniidae: sunbirds
    • Mimidae: mockingbirds and thrashers
    • Sittidae: nuthatches
    • Troglodytidae: wrens
    • Polioptilidae: gnatcatchers
    • Paridae: tits, chickadees and titmice
    • Regulidae: kinglets
    • Pycnonotidae: bulbuls
    • Phylloscopidae: leaf-warblers and allies. Recently split from Sylviidae.
    • Sylviidae: Old World warblers
    • Timaliidae: babblers
    • Muscicapidae: Old World flycatchers and chats
    • Turdidae: thrushes and allies
    • Sturnidae: starlings
    • Zosteropidae: White-eyes

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