Grallariidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of smallish

suboscine The Tyranni (suboscines) are a suborder of passerine birds that includes more than 1,000 species, a large majority of which are South American. It is named after the type genus '' Tyrannus''. These have a different anatomy of the syrinx musculat ...

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

birds of subtropical and tropical Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

known as antpittas. They are between long, and are related to the

antbird The antbirds are a large passerine bird family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 230 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire ...

s, Thamnophilidae, and

gnateater The gnateaters are a bird family, Conopophagidae, consisting of twelve small suboscine passerine species in two genera, which occur in South and Central America. Taxonomy The family Conopophagidae was introduced in 1877 by the English zoologist ...

s, Conopophagidae. The antpittas were formerly placed in the family

Formicariidae Formicariidae is a family of smallish suboscine passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antthrushes. They are between in length, and are most closely related to the ovenbirds in the family Furnariidae, an ...

. Beginning in 2002 a series of molecular genetic studies found that Formicariidae, as then defined, was non-monophyletic. In 2008, the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

reorganised the genera to create monophyletic families and moved the antpittas to their own family Grallariidae. This family now contains 68

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in one large and four fairly small

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. These are forest birds that tend to feed at or near the ground since many are specialist

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

eaters. Most are drab in appearance with shades of (rusty) brown, black, and white being their dominant tones. Compared to other birds that specialize in following ants, this family is the most tied to the ground. The long, powerful legs (which lend the birds a distinctive upright posture) and an essentially

vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

tail aid this lifestyle. The antpittas are sexually monomorphic; they resemble the true pittas in that they are virtually tailless; they hop like some

thrushes The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycat ...

, and are much easier to hear than see—although their vocalizations may be rather atypical for

perching bird A passerine () is any bird of the Order (biology), order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an Dactyly#In birds, ...

s. They lay 1 to 6 eggs in a nest in a tree, both sexes incubating.

Taxonomy

The following cladogram shows the phylogeny of the antipitta family. It is based on a large

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of the

suboscines The Tyranni (suboscines) are a suborder of passerine birds that includes more than 1,000 species, a large majority of which are South American. It is named after the type genus '' Tyrannus''. These have a different anatomy of the syrinx musculat ...

by Michael Harvey and collaborators that was published in 2020. The three species in the genus ''

Myrmothera ''Myrmothera'' is a genus of birds belonging to the antpitta family Grallariidae that are found in Middle and South America. Taxonomy The genus was established in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The type species was su ...

'' were found to be embedded in the genus ''

Hylopezus ''Hylopezus'' is a genus of bird in the family Grallariidae. It contains the following species: * Masked antpitta (''Hylopezus auricularis'') * Spotted antpitta (''Hylopezus macularius'') * White-browed antpitta (''Hylopezus ochroleucus'') * Str ...

''. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's websit
here
The species are those recognised by the

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", ...

(IOC).

Species

Typical antpittas – tribe Grallariini/subfamily Grallariinae * Genus ''

Grallaria ''Grallaria'' is a large genus of Neotropical birds in the antpitta family Grallariidae. The genus was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 with the variegated antpitta (''Grallaria varia'') as the type species. T ...

'' (47 species) Lesser antpittas – possibly tribe Myrmotherini/subfamily Myrmotherinae * Genus '' Cryptopezus'' (1 species) * Genus ''

'' (6 species) * Genus ''

Grallaricula ''Grallaricula'' is a genus of bird in the family Grallariidae. It contains the following ten species: References

Grallaricula, Bird genera Taxa named by Philip Sclater Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Grallariidae-stub ...

'' (10 species)

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1027867 * Taxa named by Philip Sclater Taxa named by Osbert Salvin