The hyliotas are a genus, ''Hyliota'', of

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 ...

bird from Africa. The taxonomic position of the genus has been a longstanding mystery. They have been formerly regarded as

Old World warbler The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxo ...

s in the family

Sylviidae Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that includes the typical warblers ''Sylvia'', and closely related genus '' Curruca'', formerly included in ''Sylvia''. They are found in Eurasia and Africa, with the greatest diversity in the Mediterrane ...

, or related to the batises and wattle-eyes in the family Platysteiridae, bush-shrikes in the family Malaconotidae, or even Old-World flycatchers in the 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 north ...

. An analysis of the

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

of the genus and possible relatives found they have no close relatives and are basal in the clade Passerida. They are now often regarded as a family in their own right, Hyliotidae. The hyliotas are found in the canopy of broad-leaf forests. They usually do not live in groups but will join

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 ar ...

s with other species. They are territorial and pairs are monogamous, nesting in camouflaged woven nests.

Species

''Hyliota'' contains the following species: * Southern hyliota (''Hyliota australis'') * Yellow-bellied hyliota (''Hyliota flavigaster'') * Usambara hyliota (''Hyliota usambara'') * Violet-backed hyliota (''Hyliota violacea'')

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q431516 Bird genera Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by William Swainson