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Bush-shrike
The bushshrikes are smallish passerine birds. They were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the family Malaconotidae, a name that alludes to their fluffy back and rump feathers. Like their shrike-like relatives, the helmetshrikes, the bushshrikes have arisen in Africa in relatively recent times. The family is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa but completely absent from Madagascar, where the vangas are their closest relatives. They are found in scrub or open woodland, and less often in marshes, Afromontane or tropical forest. They are similar in habits to shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch on a bush. Although similar in build to the shrikes, these tend to be either colourful species or largely black; some species are quite secretive. Some bushshrikes have flamboyant displays. The male puffbacks puff out the loose feathers on their rump and lower back, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanga
The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family owes its name. Many species in this family were previously classified elsewhere in other families. Recent molecular techniques made it possible to assign these species to Vangidae, thereby solving several taxonomic enigmas. The family contains 40 species divided into 21 genera. Taxonomy In addition to the small set of Malagasy species traditionally called the vangas, Vangidae includes some Asian groups: the woodshrikes (''Tephrodornis''), flycatcher-shrikes (''Hemipus'') and philentomas. Vangidae belongs to a clade of corvid birds that also includes bushshrikes (Malaconotidae), ioras (Aegithinidae) and the Australian butcherbirds, magpies and currawongs ( Cracticidae) and woodswallows ( Artamidae), which has been defined as the superf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malaconotus
''Malaconotus'' is a genus of passerine birds in the bush-shrike family (biology), family Malaconotidae, which is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. Their Greek generic name suggests fluffy back and rump feathers. Description All are large-bodied with robust legs and feet, and formidable shrike-like bills. As in other Malacotini, the upper mandible (maxilla) has a subterminal tooth, opposing a notch on the lower mandible. Both nasal and rictal bristles are present, and they are unique in their family in having syndactyl feet (3rd and 4th digits fused). They have 10 primaries and 12 rectrices like others of their family. The sexes are similar in appearance, but have dissimilar calls. Habits They form monogamous pairs that live fairly sedentary in woodlands or tropical forest. They are very vocal, but their duetting is poorly developed compared to the related genus ''Telophorus''. Their displays include bill-snapping, a habit shared with Prionops, helmetshrikes (and some Vangidae, van ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vangidae
The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy language, Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family owes its name. Many species in this family were previously classified elsewhere in other families. Recent molecular techniques made it possible to assign these species to Vangidae, thereby solving several taxonomic enigmas. The family contains 40 species divided into 21 genera. Taxonomy In addition to the small set of Malagasy species traditionally called the vangas, Vangidae includes some Asian groups: the woodshrikes (''Tephrodornis''), flycatcher-shrikes (''Hemipus'') and philentomas. Vangidae belongs to a clade of corvid birds that also includes bushshrikes (Malaconotidae), ioras (Aegithinidae) and the Australian butcherbirds, magpies and currawongs (Cracticidae) and woodswallows (Artamidae), which has been defined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dryoscopus
''Dryoscopus'' is a genus of bird in the Malaconotidae or bushshrike family. Its members are known as puffbacks. The six species, all of fairly uniform appearance and habits, are Indigenous (ecology), native to various parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The name ''Dryoscopus'' is a compound Greek language, Greek word: ''drus'' from the Greek word for "tree" and ''skopos'', meaning "watcher or lookout". Structure and habits Puffbacks are small, active bushshrikes that show a superficial resemblance to Laniarius, boubous. They however display only rudimentary duetting, have red or reddish irides, are smaller and compact with bouncy flight, and display sexual dimorphism. Characteristically, the long, loose and pale feathers of the male bird's back and rump are puffed out conspicuously during display. At the same time he may fly about, calling loudly. Comparable habits are found in some related genera (cf. ''Bocagia'', ''Bias (bird), Bias'', ''Lanioturdus'', ''Batis (bird), Batis'' and ''Dy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laniarius
''Laniarius'' is a genus of brightly coloured, carnivorous passerine birds commonly known as boubous or gonoleks. Not to be confused with the similar-sounding genus ''Lanius'', they were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but they and related genera are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the bush-shrike family Malaconotidae. This is an African group of species which are found in scrub or open woodland. They are similar in habits to shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch on a bush. Although similar in build to the shrikes, these tend to be either colourful species or largely black. Some species are also quite secretive. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Laniarius'' was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 to accommodate a single species, the yellow-crowned gonolek, which is therefore the type species. The closest relatives of the genus appear to be the genu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artamidae
Artamidae is a family of passerine birds found in Australia, the Indo-Pacific region, and Southern Asia. It includes 24 extant species in six genera and three subfamilies: Peltopsinae (with one genus, '' Peltops''), Artaminae (with one genus containing the woodswallows) and Cracticinae ( currawongs and butcherbirds, including the Australian magpie). Artamids used to be monotypic, containing only the woodswallows, but it was expanded to include the family Cracticidae in 1994. Some authors, however, still treat the two as separate families. Some species in this family are known for their beautiful song. Their feeding habits vary from nectar sucking (woodswallows) to predation on small birds (pied currawong). Taxonomy and systematics The family Artamidae was introduced by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825. The artamids are part of the superfamily Malaconotoidea, a lineage which is widespread through Australasia and consists of a vast diversity of omnivorous a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malaconotoidea
__NOTOC__ Malaconotoidea is a superfamily of passerine birds. They contain a vast diversity of omnivorous and carnivorous songbirds widespread in Africa and Australia, many of which superficially resemble shrikes. It was defined and named by Cacraft and colleagues in 2004 and contains the bushshrikes (Malaconotidae), helmetshrikes (Prionopidae), ioras (Aegithinidae), vangas (Vangidae) and the Australian butcherbirds, magpies, currawongs and woodswallows (Artamidae). Molecular analysis in 2006 added the Bornean bristlehead to the group, though its position in the Malconotoidea is unclear. It was initially thought related to the butcherbirds and woodswallows but now is thought to be an early offshoot. In 2012, Jerome Fuchs and colleagues extensively analysed the Malaconotoidea (called by them Malaconotidea), using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. The resulting tree suggested that the group originated in Australasia and prolifically diversified in Africa after an ancestor cross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cracticidae
The Cracticinae, bellmagpies and allies, gathers together 12 species of mostly crow-like birds native to Australasia and nearby areas. Historically, the cracticines – currawongs, Australian magpie and butcherbirds – were seen as a separate family Cracticidae and, according to the 2018 Cements List, they still are. With their 1985 DNA study, Sibley and Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between the woodswallows and the butcherbirds in 1985, and placed them in a Cracticini clade, now the family Artamidae. The two species of peltops were once placed with the monarch flycatchers but are now placed here. The cracticines have large, straight bills and mostly black, white or grey plumage. All are omnivorous to some degree: the butcherbirds mostly eat meat; Australian magpies usually forage through short grass looking for worms and other small creatures; and currawongs are true omnivores, taking fruit, grain, meat, insects, eggs and nestlings. The female constructs bulky nes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platysteiridae
Platysteiridae is a family of small, stout passerine birds of the African tropics. The family contains the wattle-eyes, batises and shrike-flycatchers. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatchers, Muscicapidae. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush. They hunt by flycatching, or by taking prey from the ground like a shrike. The nest is a small, neat cup, placed low in a tree or bush. Distribution and habitat The Platysteiridae are arboreal birds, primarily of the woodlands and forests of sub-Saharan Africa. The family is restricted to mainland Africa and its offshore islands. The shrike-flycatchers and genus ''Dyaphorophyia'' are inhabitants of dense forest, while the rest of the wattle-eyes are found in woodland, and the batises range across all wooded habitats except the densest forests of the Congo Basin. The pririt and pygmy batis survive in very arid environments with some cover, and the white-fronted wattle-eye fav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow-crowned Gonolek
The yellow-crowned gonolek (''Laniarius barbarus''), also known as the common gonolek, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the bushshrike family. It is a common resident breeding bird in equatorial Africa from Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo east to Ethiopia. It is a skulking bird and frequents dense undergrowth in forests and other wooded habitats. The nest is a cup structure in a bush or tree in which two eggs are laid. Taxonomy In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the yellow-crowned gonolek in his ''Ornithologie'' based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name ''La pie-griesche rouge du Sénégal'' and the Latin ''Lanius Senegalensis ruber''. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monophyly
In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population), i.e. excludes non-descendants of that common ancestor # the grouping contains all the descendants of that common ancestor, without exception Monophyly is contrasted with paraphyly and polyphyly as shown in the second diagram. A ''paraphyletic'' grouping meets 1. but not 2., thus consisting of the descendants of a common ancestor, excepting one or more monophyletic subgroups. A ''polyphyletic'' grouping meets neither criterion, and instead serves to characterize convergent relationships of biological features rather than genetic relationships – for example, night-active primates, fruit trees, or aquatic insects. As such, these characteristic features of a polyphyletic grouping are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iora
The ioras are a small family, Aegithinidae, of four passerine bird species found in south and southeast Asia. The family is composed of a single genus, ''Aegithina''. They were formerly grouped with the leafbirds and fairy-bluebirds, in the family Irenidae. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Aegithina'' was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot to accommodate the common iora. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''aigithos'' or ''aiginthos'', a mythical bird mentioned by Aristotle and other classical authors. The common iora was described in 1758 and given the binomial name ''Motacilla tiphia'' by Carl Linnaeus, but there was a some confusion about the nature of bird Linnaeus was referring to. Early taxonomists considered it to variously be a warbler, flycatcher, finch or babbler. When G. R. Gray erected the family Aegithinidae in 1869 he included a number of babbler genera in it with the ioras. Edward Blyth, working in the 1850s, was the first t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
