''Lalage'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
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
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
s belonging to the
cuckooshrike
The cuckooshrikes and allies in the family (biology), family Campephagidae are small to medium-sized passerine bird species found in the subtropical and tropical Africa, Asia and Australasia. The 93 species are divided into 11 genus, genera. The ...
family Campephagidae, many of which are commonly known as
trillers. There are about 20 species which occur in southern
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
and
Australasia
Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
with a number of species on
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
islands. They feed mainly on insects and fruit. They build a neat cup-shaped
nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...
high in a tree.
They are fairly small birds, about 15 to 20 cm long. They are mainly black, grey and white in colour.
Most species are fairly common but the
Samoan triller is considered to be
near threatened
A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...
and the
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...
subspecies of the
long-tailed triller has become
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Lalage'' was introduced in 1826 by the German zoologist
Friedrich Boie
Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi ...
to accommodate a single species, ''Turdus orientalis''
Gmelin, JF, 1788, a
junior synonym
In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently.
...
of ''Turdus niger''
Pennant, 1781, the
pied triller. The genus name is from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
''lagages'', an unidentified bird mentioned by the Greek lexicographer
Hesychius of Alexandria
Hesychius of Alexandria () was a Greek grammarian who, probably in the 5th or 6th century AD, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived, probably by absorbing the works of earlier lexicographers.
The ...
.
The genus now includes six species that were formerly assigned to the genus ''
Coracina
''Coracina'' is a large genus of birds in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae.
The genus was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816. The type species was subsequently designated as the white-bellied cuckooshrik ...
''. A
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 published in 2010 found that the species form part of the clade that contain members of the genus ''Lalage''.
The genus contains 20 species:
Former species
Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Lalage'':
* Buff-bellied monarch (as ''L. banksiana'')
* Black-throated shrikebill (as ''L. nigrogularis'')
References
*Perrins, Christopher, ''ed.'' (2004) ''The New Encyclopedia of Birds'', Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Bird genera
Taxa named by Friedrich Boie
{{Campephagidae-stub