The

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Petroicidae includes 51 species in 19 genera. All are endemic to

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the family species are known variously as robins, scrub-robins and flyrobins. They are only distantly related to the

European robin The European robin (''Erithacus rubecula''), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in Great Britain & Ireland, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. About in len ...

of Europe, north Africa and western Asia, a member of family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Northe ...

Characteristics

Most species have a compact build with a large, rounded head, a short, straight bill, and rounded wingtips. They occupy a wide range of wooded habitats, from subalpine to tropical rainforest, and mangrove swamps to semi-arid scrubland. All are primarily insectivorous, although a few supplement their diet with seeds. Hunting is mostly by perch and pounce, a favoured tactic being to cling sideways onto a treetrunk and scan the ground below without moving. Social organisation is usually centered on long-term pair-bonds and small family groups. Most members of the subfamily Eopsaltrinae practice

cooperative breeding Cooperative breeding is a social system characterized by alloparental care: offspring receive care not only from their parents, but also from additional group members, often called helpers. Cooperative breeding encompasses a wide variety of group s ...

, with all family members helping defend a territory and feed nestlings. Nests are cup-shaped, usually constructed by the female, and often placed in a vertical fork of a tree or shrub. Many species are expert at adding moss, bark or lichen to the outside of the nest as

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

, making it very difficult to spot, even when it is in a seemingly prominent location.

Systematics

Although named after true robins, the Australian robins, along with many other insect-eating birds, were originally classified as flycatchers in a huge family

. They were also classified for a time in the whistler family Pachycephalidae, before being placed in their own family Petroicidae, or Eopsaltridae.Boles, p. 35. The family Petroicidae is a member of the

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Passerides which also includes the

parvorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

s Sylviida, Muscicapida and

Passerida Passerida is, under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two parvorders contained within the suborder Passeri (standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder). While more recent research suggests that its sister parvorde ...

. It is most closely related to the families Eupetidae (Rail-babbler), Chaetopidae (Rockjumper) and Picathartidae (Rockfowl).

Classification

A comprehensive review, including an analysis of the osteological characters, by Schodde and Mason in 1999 illustrated three groupings, classified as subfamilies below: Testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA revealed some changes, and proposed sinking of ''Tregellasia'' into ''Eopsaltria'' as the white-breasted robin's closest relatives appear to be the two taxa of ''Tregellasia''. The family contains 51 species divided into 19 genera and 6 subfamilies: *Eopsaltriinae ** '' Tregellasia'' (2 species) ** '' Quoyornis'' (monotypic) – white-breasted robin ** ''

Eopsaltria ''Eopsaltria'' is a genus of small forest passerines known in Australia as the yellow robins. They belong to the Australasian robin family Petroicidae. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek for "dawn singer/song" because of their dawn choru ...

'' (2 species) ** '' Gennaeodryas'' (monotypic) – banded yellow robin ** '' Melanodryas'' (2 species) ** '' Peneothello'' (5 species) ** '' Poecilodryas'' (4 species) ** '' Plesiodryas'' (monotypic) – black-throated robin ** '' Heteromyias'' (3 species) *Drymodinae ** '' Drymodes'' (3 species) *Microecinae ** '' Microeca'' (3 species) ** '' Monachella'' (monotypic) – torrent flyrobin ** '' Cryptomicroeca'' (monotypic) – yellow-bellied flyrobin ** '' Kempiella'' (2 species) ** '' Devioeca'' (monotypic) – canary flyrobin *Petroicinae ** '' Eugerygone'' (monotypic) – garnet robin ** '' Petroica'' (14 species) *Pachycephalopsinae ** '' Pachycephalopsis'' (2 species) *Amalocichlinae ** '' Amalocichla'' (2 species)

References

Sources

External links

Petroicidae videos
on the Internet Bird Collection
Meliphagoidea
– Highlighting relationships of

Maluridae The Australasian wrens are a family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. While commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens. The family comprises 32 species (including sixteen ...