Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a

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 ...

, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks. This family is composed of four species in one genus, ''Pardalotus'', and several

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

. The name derives from a Greek word meaning "spotted". The family once contained several other species now split into the family

Acanthizidae The Acanthizidae—known as Australian warblers—are a family of passerine birds which includes gerygones, the thornbills ''Acanthiza'', and the scrubwrens of ''Sericornis''. The Acanthizidae family consists of small to medium passerine birds, ...

. Pardalotes spend most of their time high in the outer foliage of trees, feeding on insects, spiders, and above all lerps (a type of sap-sucking insect). Their role in controlling lerp infestations in the

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as ...

forests of Australia may be significant. They generally live in pairs or small family groups but sometimes come together into flocks after breeding. Pardalotes are seasonal breeders in temperate areas of Australia but may breed year round in warmer areas. They are

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of dyadic relationship in which an individual has only one partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time ( serial monogamy) — as compared to the various forms of non-monogamy (e.g., pol ...

breeders, and both partners share nest construction, incubation and chick-rearing duties. All four species nest in deep horizontal tunnels drilled into banks of earth. Externally about the size of a mouse-hole, they can be very deep, at a metre or more. Some species also nest in tree hollows.

Taxonomy and systematics

The pardalotes consist of several species contained in a single genus, ''Pardalotus'', with the general consensus being to recognise four species. The placement of the genus has varied, being first placed with the mostly oriental

flowerpecker The flowerpeckers are a family, Dicaeidae, of passerine birds. The family comprises two genera, ''Prionochilus'' and ''Dicaeum'', with 50 species in total. The family has sometimes been included in an enlarged sunbird family Nectariniidae. The ...

s (Dicaeidae), as both groups are dumpy-looking birds with bright

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

. In addition both groups have a reduced tenth primary (one of the

flight feather Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

s). Genetic analysis has shown that the two groups are in fact not closely related, and that the pardalotes are instead more closely related another Australian family, the

, which includes the scrubwrens, gerygones and thornbills. The two are sometimes merged into one family; when this is done the combined family is known as Pardalotidae, but the two groups have also been treated as two separate families. Within the family two species, the

forty-spotted pardalote The forty-spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus quadragintus'') is one of Australia's rarest birds and by far the rarest pardalote, being confined to a few colonies in the south-east corner of Tasmania, mainly on Maria Island and Bruny Island. Des ...

and the

red-browed pardalote The red-browed pardalote (''Pardalotus rubricatus'') is a small brightly coloured insectivorous passerine, endemic to Australia . A gleaning specialist, they forage primarily in eucalypt trees . The Latin word ''rubricatus'' means 'red-ochred' whi ...

, are fairly invariant species, but the remaining two species are highly variable. The

striated pardalote The striated pardalote (''Pardalotus striatus'') is the least colourful and most common of the four pardalote species. Other common names include pickwick, wittachew and chip-chip. It is a very small, short-tailed bird that is more often heard th ...

contains six subspecies, which are sometimes elevated to four separate species. The

spotted pardalote The spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus punctatus'') is one of the smallest of all Australian birds at in length, and one of the most colourful; it is sometimes known as the diamondbird. Although moderately common in all of the reasonably fertile pa ...

has three subspecies, one of which—the

yellow-rumped pardalote The spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus punctatus'') is one of the smallest of all Australian birds at in length, and one of the most colourful; it is sometimes known as the diamondbird. Although moderately common in all of the reasonably fertile pa ...

—is sometimes treated as a separate species due to its distinctive plumage and call and lack of zone of hybridization in southwestern Australia. Within the family the relationships between the subspecies are unclear, although it is thought that the forty-spotted pardalote is closely related to the spotted pardalote. *

Spotted pardalote The spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus punctatus'') is one of the smallest of all Australian birds at in length, and one of the most colourful; it is sometimes known as the diamondbird. Although moderately common in all of the reasonably fertile pa ...

, ''Pardalotus punctatus'' :* Yellow-rumped pardalote, ''Pardalotus punctatus xanthopyge'' :* ''Pardalotus punctatus militaris'' *

Forty-spotted pardalote The forty-spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus quadragintus'') is one of Australia's rarest birds and by far the rarest pardalote, being confined to a few colonies in the south-east corner of Tasmania, mainly on Maria Island and Bruny Island. Des ...

, ''Pardalotus quadragintus'' *

Red-browed pardalote The red-browed pardalote (''Pardalotus rubricatus'') is a small brightly coloured insectivorous passerine, endemic to Australia . A gleaning specialist, they forage primarily in eucalypt trees . The Latin word ''rubricatus'' means 'red-ochred' whi ...

, ''Pardalotus rubricatus'' *

Striated pardalote The striated pardalote (''Pardalotus striatus'') is the least colourful and most common of the four pardalote species. Other common names include pickwick, wittachew and chip-chip. It is a very small, short-tailed bird that is more often heard th ...

, ''Pardalotus striatus substriatus'' :* Yellow-tipped pardalote, ''Pardalotus striatus striatus'' :* Red-tipped pardalote, ''Pardalotus striatus ornatus'' :* Black-headed pardalote, ''Pardalotus striatus melanocephalus'', ''Pardalotus striatus uropygialis'' and ''Pardalotus striatus melvillensis''

Description

The pardalotes are small, compact birds that range in size from in length. The spotted and striated pardalotes conform to

Bergmann's rule Bergmann's rule is an ecogeographical rule that states that within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder environments, while populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer r ...

and are larger in the south than they are in the north. The males and females are the same size as each other, but there are some differences in the

of some species. They have short, square-tipped tails and relatively short rounded wings (which are longer in the more dispersive species). The bill is short, deep and robust, but lacks the rictal bristles that surround the bills of many other insectivorous birds.

Distribution and habitat

The pardalotes are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Australia. The forty-spotted has the most restricted distribution of the four species, being endemic to

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

; in contrast the most widespread species, the striated pardalote, is found throughout Australia, only absent from some of the driest areas of the inland central and western deserts. The red-browed pardalote is widespread in the north and west of Australia, whereas the spotted pardalote is found closer to the coast in southern and eastern Australia. The family are

forest specialists. While they may occur in forests and woodlands dominated by other tree types, these are marginal habitats for the family and are seldom used. Pardalotes occupy a wide range of eucalypt habitats, from tall forests with a canopy over high to low mallee woodlands with a canopy of just .

Behaviour and ecology

Pardalotes are almost exclusively insectivores. They will occasionally consume some plant materials including seeds, and there has been an observation of one striated pardalote beating and then eating a lizard. They feed singly or in pairs during the breeding season, but have been recorded as joining

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are ...

s in the winter months. The majority of foraging occurs on ''Eucalyptus'', with other trees being used much less frequently; among the eucalyptus, trees from the subgenus ''Symphyomyrtus'' are preferred. Pardalotes forage by

gleaning Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...

insects from the foliage, as opposed to catching insects while flying. Pardalotes may consume a number of different types of insects, but lerps – a honeydew casing exuded by insects of the family ''

Psyllidae Psyllidae, the jumping plant lice or psyllids, are a family of small plant-feeding insects that tend to be very host-specific, i.e. each plant-louse species only feeds on one plant species (monophagous) or feeds on a few closely related plants ( ...

'' – form the major component of their diet and the one to which they are most adapted. These lerps are also highly sought after by the larger

honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New G ...

s, which aggressively defend the resource. A study of pardalotes in Australia estimated that 5% of a pardalote's day is spent evading honeyeater attacks.

Movements

Patterns of dispersal include regular winter movements northwards and to lower altitudes. Striated Pardalotes migrate from Tasmania across Bass Strait to winter on the Australian mainland. Spotted and Striated Pardalotes move from higher altitude forests to lower rainfall inland plains in SE Australia. Spotted and Striated Pardalotes also move intermittently following increases in psyllids food sources. Some Pardalote populations are sedentary. Forty-spotted Pardalotes are probably sedentary with local seasonal movements restricted to eastern Tasmania and its adjacent islands. Movements of Red-browed Pardalotes are unknown.

Status and conservation threats

The Striated, Spotted and Red-browed Pardalotes are widespread and common but their populations are decreasing due to habitat loss. Land clearing and commercial forestry in native eucalypt forests results in the loss of foraging habitat, nesting hollows and forest linkages essential for dispersal. The Forty-spotted Pardalote is listed as Endangered by the IUCN and under Australian legislation. The distribution of the Forty-spotted Pardalote is restricted to a narrow habitat range and the population is small and fragmented. Threats include habitat loss, competition with colonial honeyeaters, especially the Noisy Miner, and parasitism. The Tasmanian ectoparasite, Passeromyia longicornis demonstrates a higher parasite load and virulence with high nestling mortality in Forty-spotted Pardalote nests compared to Striated Pardalotes. Over the 2-year study by Edworthy et al., Forty-spotted Pardalotes fledged fewer nestlings (18%) than sympatric Striated Pardalotes (26%). Climate change effects are uncertain but anticipated. Reductions in the distribution of the Striated Pardalote in the Western Australian wheatbelt are predicted due to climate change.

References

External links

Pardalote videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from1=Q840522, from2=Q11846584 * ^ Taxa named by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot