Orthonyx Novaeguineae
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Orthonychidae is a
clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
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 ...
birds
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
. It encompasses the genus ''Orthonyx'', including the logrunners and the chowdilla. Some authorities consider the Australian family
Cinclosomatidae Cinclosomatidae is a family (biology), family of passerine birds native to Australia and New Guinea. It has a complicated taxonomic history and different authors vary in which birds they include in the family. It includes the quail-thrushes and j ...
to be part of the Orthonychidae. The three species use their stiffened tails to brace themselves when feeding. The Australian logrunner, ''Orthonyx temminckii'', is from northeastern
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and southeast Queensland, where it is very local in its distribution, and strictly terrestrial in its habits. The wings are barred with white, and the chin, throat and breast are in the male pure white, but of a bright reddish-orange in the female. The remiges are very short, rounded and much incurved, showing a bird of weak flight. The rectrices are very broad, the shafts stiff, and towards the tip divested of barbs. The population which is found locally in
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
is now generally considered a separate species, the Papuan logrunner, ''Orthonyx novaeguineae''. The chowchilla, ''Orthonyx spaldingii'', from north-east
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, is much larger than either species of logrunner, and has a jet-black plumage, the throat being white in the male and orange-rufous in the female.


Taxonomy

The fossil record does not much help to determine the affiliations of the Orthonychidae. Three prehistoric species are known to science. The very large ''
Orthonyx hypsilophus '' Orthonyx hypsilophus '' is an extinct species of logrunner from the Late Pleistocene of Australia. It was described from submerged subfossil material (an incomplete pelvis) collected in 1979 from the Fossil Cave in the south-east of South A ...
'' from
Fossil Cave Fossil Cave (5L81), formerly known as The Green Waterhole, is a cave in the Limestone Coast region of south-eastern South Australia. It is located in the gazetted locality of Tantanoola, South Australia, Tantanoola about north-west of the c ...
and an undescribed species found in
Pyramids Cave A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as triangu ...
which was a bit smaller than the Australian logrunner are probably of
Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...
age. ''
Orthonyx kaldowinyeri ''Orthonyx kaldowinyeri'' is an extinct species of logrunner from the Late Oligocene to the Miocene of Australia. It was described by Walter Boles from fossil material (a complete left femur) found at the Last Minute Site of Riversleigh, in t ...
'' is known from Middle or Late
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
deposits of Riversleigh; it is the oldest and smallest species known to date (Boles, 1993).


Species


Description

Logrunners have a length ranging from 17 to 20 cm. On the other hand, the bulky chowchilla is significantly larger, measuring around 26 to 28 cm in length. Chowchillas are characterized by their dark brown coloration on the upper parts of their bodies, a black head, and a blue-gray eye ring. Logrunners, on the other hand, display a patterned combination of olive, gray, and mottled black
plumage Plumage () 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, there can b ...
. Male logrunners feature a white throat, while females have a rufous throat and upper breast.


Behaviour and ecology

Logrunners are semi-terrestrial birds of weak flight. They are strictly
carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...
, with insects and larvae being their chief food, while the larger chowchilla will also eat small
lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...
s.Higgins, P.J. and J.M. Peter; ''
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds The ''Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds'', known as ''HANZAB'', is the pre-eminent scientific reference on birds in the region, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and the surrounding ocean and subantarctic ...
, vol. 6:
Pardalote Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a family (biology), family, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks. This family is composed of four species in one genus, ''Pard ...
s to Shrike-thrushes''.
They find their food by digging in the soil, using their spiny tails as a support in the wet forest.


Social structure and breeding

Logrunners have a somewhat unusual social structure. They are basically
monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...
, but male offspring are often retained on the natal territory for more than a year after fledging.Frith, C.B., Frith, D.W. & Jansen, A. 1997. "The nesting biology of the Chowchilla ''Orthonyx spaldingii'' (Orthonychidae)"; ''
Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...
'' 97, 18–30.
Despite this, only the female ever feeds the young; the much larger males stay primarily for the purpose of territorial defence and protecting the female from predation. Similar patterns of retention of young without alloparental care also occur in the
speckled warbler The speckled warbler (''Pyrrholaemus sagittatus'') is a species of bird in the family (biology), family Acanthizidae. It is Endemism, endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. Taxonomy The speckled warbler was first ...
, the corvid genus ''
Perisoreus The genus ''Perisoreus'' is a very small genus of jays from the Boreal regions of North America and Eurasia from Scandinavia to the Asian seaboard. An isolated species also occurs in north-western Sichuan of China. They belong to the Passerine ...
'' and the bustard genus ''
Eupodotis ''Eupodotis'' is a genus of bird in the bustard family Otididae. It contains two species, all restricted to Africa. Species in the genera ''Afrotis'' and ''Lophotis'' are sometimes included in this genus; however some authorities separate the Kar ...
''. Like the lyrebirds, logrunners typically breed in the southern winter from June to September, though this is often extended depending on weather conditions by a month or more. Both the chowchilla and the Papuan logrunner lay only one egg, while the Australian logrunner typically lays two though a few reports exist of clutches of one or even three. The eggs are very unusual in their tubular shape, and are pure white in colour, while the incubation period is among the longest for any songbird. The young generally become independent of the female in two to two and a half weeks, which is an exceptionally short time for an insectivorous altricial Australian bird, where parental dependence of forty to sixty days post-fledging is typical. This is probably why, unlike in birds of drier habitats in Australia, alloparental care is superfluous for rearing young and may actually increase the risk of predation. The nests are domed and constructed entirely of sticks, and are located on the ground below a tree. They have special coverings to prevent the extremely heavy downpours typical of the eastern Australian coast from damaging the egg(s). Males are described as performing dancing antics like those of the
lyrebird A lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds that compose the genus ''Menura'', and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their impressive ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environme ...
s.


Lifespan

In accordance with their nonseasonal, warm rainforest habitat, logrunners can be very long-lived. The chowchilla, the sole species with any banding data, has an average lifespan of around five years and has been known to live for seventeen.
Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme The Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS), a combination of the former Australian bird banding and bat banding schemes, is managed by the Department of the Environment, Australia. History The earliest banding of wild birds for scientific ...
;
Chowchilla
'


Distribution

The
Australian logrunner The Australian logrunner (''Orthonyx temminckii'') is a species of bird that is Endemism, endemic to eastern Australia where it uses unique foraging techniques and adaptations to search for its food on the floors of temperate, subtropical, or tr ...
lives in the humid lowland forest along the eastern coast of Australia. The
Papuan logrunner The Papuan logrunner or New Guinea logrunner (''Orthonyx novaeguineae'') is a species of bird in the family Orthonychidae. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Australian logrunner. Habitat and Location It is found in the highlands of ...
is found in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
and
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
's tropical montane forests. Chowchillas live in the rain forests of northeastern
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
.


References


Bibliography

* Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). ''
Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...
''. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. *


External links


Orthonychidae videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from1=Q782767, from2=Q2130844 Monotypic bird families Passeri