Passerine

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Passerines
Female House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Linnaeus, 1758
Suborders
Tyranni Passeri

A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. More than half of all species of bird are passerines. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most spectacularly diverse vertebrate orders: with around 5,400 species, it is roughly twice as diverse as the largest of the mammal orders, the Rodentia.

The group gets its name from the Latin name for the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus).

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Origins and evolution 3 Taxonomy of passerines 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Characteristics

Many passerines are songbirds and have complex muscles to control their syrinx; many gape in the nest as infants to beg for food.

The order is divided into two suborders, Tyranni, and Passeri (oscines). Oscines have the most control of their syrinx muscles among birds, producing a wide range of songs and other vocalizations (though some of them, such as the crows, do not sound like it, while others like the Lyrebird are accomplished imitators).

Most passerines are smaller than typical members of other avian orders. The heaviest and altogether largest passerine is the Thick-billed Raven; some Common Ravens come close and the Lyrebird is longer.

The foot of a passerine has three toes directed forward without any webbing or joining, and one toe directed backward. The hind toe joins the leg at the same level as the front toes. In other orders of birds the toe arrangement is different.

Most passerines lay coloured eggs, in contrast to non-passerines, where the colour is white except in some ground nesting groups such as Charadriiformes and nightjars, where camouflage is necessary, and some parasitic cuckoos which have to match the passerine host's egg.

[edit] Origins and evolution

The evolutionary history of and relationships among the passerine families remained rather mysterious until around the end of the 20th century. Many passerine families were grouped together on the basis of morphological similarities that, it is now believed, are the result of convergent evolution, not a close genetic relationship. For example, the "wrens" of the northern hemisphere, of Australia, and of New Zealand all look very similar and behave in similar ways, and yet belong to three far-flung branches of the passerine family tree; they are as unrelated as it is possible to be while yet remaining Passeriformes.

Much research remains to be done, but a series of biochemical studies are gradually revealing a clearer picture of passerine origins and evolution. It is now thought that the early passerines evolved in Gondwana at about the time that the southern supercontinent was breaking up. This led to the Tyranni and, a little later, to a great radiation of forms in Australia-New Guinea (the Passeri or songbirds). A major branch of the passerine tree, the Passerida (or sparrow-like forms), emerged either as the sister group to the basal lineages ("Corvida"), or more likely as a subgroup of it, and reached the northern hemisphere, where there was a further explosive radiation of new species. Since then, there has been extensive mixing, with northern forms returning to the south, southern forms moving north, and so on.

[edit] Taxonomy of passerines

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Please read the discussion on the talk page before making substantial changes.

This list is in taxonomic order, placing related species/groups next to each other. The subdivisions follow Lovette & Bermingham's 2000 study of the c-mos proto-oncogene nDNA sequence, which has been validated by subsequent research as regards its general findings.

Initially^{[citation needed]}, the Corvida and Passerida were classified as "parvorders" in the suborder Passeri; in accord with the usual taxonomic prectice,m they would probably be ranked as infraorders. As originally envisioned (see also Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy), they contained the superfamilies Corvoidea and minor lineages, and the superfamilies Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea, respectively. This arrangement has been found to be overly simplified by more recent studies. It is thus not applied here. In line with standard taxonomic practice, the "parvorders"

In 2006, literally dozens of studies were published which tried to resolve the phylogeny of the passeriform radiation. For example, the Corvida as presented here are, as far as anyone can tell, a rather arbitrary assemblage of early and minor lineages of passeriform birds of Old World origin, generally from the region of Australia, New Zealand, and the Wallacea. Likewise, major "wastebin" families such as the Old World warblers and Old World babblers have turned out to be paraphyletic. Therefore, until the relevant literature has been reviewed[1], the arrangement as presented here is chosen, with no attempt to further resolve the infraorders apart from trying to arrange the families in a phylogenetic sequence.

ORDER PASSERIFORMES

• Suborder Acanthisitti
  • Acanthisittidae: New Zealand "wrens"

• Suborder Tyranni - suboscines
  • Tyrannidae: tyrant flycatchers
  • Pittidae: pittas
  • Eurylaimidae: broadbills
  • Furnariidae: ovenbirds and woodcreepers
  • Thamnophilidae: antbirds
  • Formicariidae: antpittas and antthrushes (possibly paraphyletic)
  • Rhinocryptidae: tapaculos (probably belong into Formicariidae or paraphyletic)
  • Conopophagidae: gnateaters and gnatpittas
  • Cotingidae: cotingas
  • Pipridae: manakins
  • Philepittidae: asities

• Suborder Passeri - songbirds (oscines)
  • Corvida (probably not monophyletic)
    • Menuridae: lyrebirds
    • Atrichornithidae: scrub birds
    • Climacteridae: Australian treecreepers
    • Maluridae: fairy-wrens, emu-wrens and grasswrens
    • Meliphagidae: honeyeaters and chats
    • Promeropidae: sugarbirds
    • Pardalotidae: pardalotes, scrubwrens, thornbills, and gerygones
    • Petroicidae: Australian robins
    • Orthonychidae: logrunners
    • Pomatostomidae: Australasian babblers
    • Cinclosomatidae: whipbirds and allies
    • Neosittidae: sittellas
    • Pachycephalidae: whistlers, shrike-thrushes, pitohuis and allies
    • Dicruridae: monarch flycatchers and allies
    • Campephagidae: cuckoo shrikes and trillers
    • Oriolidae: orioles and Figbird
    • Icteridae: grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles
    • Artamidae: wood swallows, butcherbirds, currawongs and Australian Magpie
    • Paradisaeidae: birds of paradise
    • Corvidae: crows, ravens and jays
    • Corcoracidae: White-winged Chough and Apostlebird
    • Irenidae: fairy-bluebirds
    • Laniidae: shrikes
    • Prionopidae: helmetshrikes
    • Malaconotidae: puffback shrikes, bush shrikes, tchagras and boubous
    • Pityriaseidae: Bornean Bristlehead
    • Vireonidae: vireos
    • Vangidae: vangas
    • Ptilonorhynchidae: bowerbirds
    • Turnagridae: Piopio
    • Callaeidae: New Zealand wattlebirds
    • N.N.: Stitchbird
  • Passerida
    • Alaudidae: larks
    • Chloropseidae: leafbirds
    • Aegithinidae: ioras
    • Picathartidae: rockfowl
    • Bombycillidae: waxwings and allies
    • Dulidae: Palmchat
    • Ptilogonatidae: silky flycatchers
    • Cinclidae: dippers
    • Motacillidae: wagtails and pipits
    • Prunellidae: accentor
    • Melanocharitidae: berrypeckers and longbills
    • Paramythiidae: tit berrypecker and crested berrypeckers
    • Passeridae: true sparrows
    • Urocynchramidae: Przewalski's Finch
    • Estrildidae: estrildid finches (waxbills, munias, etc)
    • Parulidae: New World warblers
    • Thraupidae: tanagers and allies
    • Peucedramidae: Olive Warbler
    • Fringillidae: true finches
    • Cardinalidae: cardinals
    • Ploceidae: weavers
    • Drepanididae: Hawaiian honeycreepers
    • Emberizidae: buntings and American sparrows
    • Nectariniidae: sunbirds
    • Dicaeidae: flowerpeckers
    • Mimidae: mockingbirds and thrashers
    • Sittidae: nuthatches
    • Tichodromadidae: Wallcreeper
    • Certhiidae: treecreepers
    • Salpornithidae: Spotted Creeper
    • Rhabdornithidae: Philippine creepers
    • Troglodytidae: wrens
    • Polioptilidae: gnatcatchers
    • Paridae: tits, chickadees and titmice
    • Stenostiridae: stenostirids (tit-warblers; sometimes included in Paridae)
    • Remizidae: penduline tits (sometimes included in Paridae)
    • Aegithalidae: long-tailed tits
    • Hirundinidae: swallows and martins
    • Regulidae: kinglets
    • Pycnonotidae: bulbuls
    • Coerebidae: Bananaquit
    • Sylviidae: Old World warblers
    • Hypocoliidae: Hypocolius
    • Cisticolidae: cisticolas and allies
    • Zosteropidae: white-eyes
    • Paradoxornithidae: parrotbills
    • Timaliidae: babblers
    • Muscicapidae: Old World flycatchers and chats
    • Platysteiridae: wattle-eyes or puffback flycatchers
    • Turdidae: thrushes and allies
    • Sturnidae: starlings
    • Viduidae: indigobirds and whydahs

[edit] See also

• list of birds

[edit] References

• Lovette, Irby J.& Bermingham, Eldredge (2000): c-mos Variation in Songbirds: Molecular Evolution, Phylogenetic Implications, and Comparisons with Mitochondrial Differentiation. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17(10): 1569–1577. PDF fulltext