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Australasian Wren
The Australasian wrens are a family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. While commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens. The family comprises 32 species (including sixteen fairywrens, three emu-wrens, and thirteen grasswrens) in six genera. Taxonomy and systematics As with many other Australian creatures, and perhaps more than most, the species making up this family were comprehensively misunderstood by early researchers. They were variously classified as Old World flycatchers, Old World warblers, and Old World babblers. In the late 1960s morphological studies began to suggest that the Australo-Papuan fairywrens, the grasswrens, emu-wrens and two monotypic wren-like genera from New Guinea were related and, following Charles Sibley's pioneering work on egg-white proteins in the mid-1970s, Australian researchers adopted the family name Maluridae in 1975. With further morphological work and the great strides ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superb Fairywren
The superb fairywren (''Malurus cyaneus'') is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae, and is common and familiar across south-eastern Australia. It is a sedentary and territorial species, also exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism; the male in breeding plumage has a striking bright blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle, and tail, with a black mask and black or dark blue throat. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; this gave the early impression that males were polygamous, as all dull-coloured birds were taken for females. Six subspecies groups are recognized: three larger and darker forms from Tasmania, Flinders and King Island respectively, and three smaller and paler forms from mainland Australia and Kangaroo Island. Like other fairywrens, the superb fairywren is notable for several peculiar behavioural characteristics; the birds are socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, meaning that although they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corvid Radiation
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 133 species are included in this family. The genus ''Corvus'', including the crows, rooks, and ravens, makes up over a third of the entire family. Corvids (Raven, ravens) are the largest passerines. Corvids display remarkable Animal cognition, intelligence for animals of their size, and are among the most Bird intelligence, intelligent birds thus far studied. Specifically, members of the family have demonstrated self-awareness in mirror tests (European magpies) and Tool use by animals, tool-making ability (e.g. crows and rooks), skills which until recently were thought to be possessed only by humans and a few other higher mammals. Their total brain-to-body mass ratio is equal to that of non-human great apes and cetaceans, and only slightly l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stipiturus
The emu-wrens (''Stipiturus'') are a genus of passerine birds in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. They are found only in Australia, where they inhabit scrub, heathland and grassland. They are small birds, 12–19 cm long with the tail accounting for over half of their length. The tail has only six feathers which are loose and coarse in structure, rather like the feathers of the emu. Three species are recognised, of which the mallee emu-wren is endangered. Taxonomy and systematics The common name of the genus is derived from the resemblance of their tails to the feathers of an emu. The genus was defined by French naturalist René Lesson in 1831 after his visit to Port Jackson on the 1823-5 voyage of the ''Coquille'', although the southern emu-wren had already been encountered and described soon after European settlement at Sydney Cove.Rowley and Russell, p. 202. The three species have been variously considered as one, two or even four species (as the Western Australia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange-crowned Fairywren
The orange-crowned fairywren (''Clytomyias insignis'') is a species of passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Clytomyias''. It is found on New Guinea in its natural habitat of subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Taxonomy and systematics First collected in the Arfak Mountains, the orange-crowned fairywren was described by Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1879.Rowley & Russell, p. 199. Molecular study indicates that it forms a clade with the fairywrens of the genus ''Malurus''. Alternative names for the orange-crowned fairywren include orange-crowned wren, rufous fairywren, and rufous wren-warbler. Subspecies Two subspecies are recognised: * ''C. i. insignis'' - Sharpe, 1879: The nominate subspecies is found on the Bird's Head Peninsula in far north-western New Guinea * ''C. i. oorti'' - Rothschild & Hartert, 1907: Found in the central highlands of New Guinea from western New Guinea to the Owen Stanley Range of southea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clytomyias
The orange-crowned fairywren (''Clytomyias insignis'') is a species of passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Clytomyias''. It is found on New Guinea in its natural habitat of subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Taxonomy and systematics First collected in the Arfak Mountains, the orange-crowned fairywren was described by Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1879.Rowley & Russell, p. 199. Molecular study indicates that it forms a clade with the fairywrens of the genus ''Malurus''. Alternative names for the orange-crowned fairywren include orange-crowned wren, rufous fairywren, and rufous wren-warbler. Subspecies Two subspecies are recognised: * ''C. i. insignis'' - Sharpe, 1879: The nominate subspecies is found on the Bird's Head Peninsula in far north-western New Guinea * ''C. i. oorti'' - Rothschild & Hartert, 1907: Found in the central highlands of New Guinea from western New Guinea to the Owen Stanley Range of southe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malurus
''Malurus'' is a genus of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. Taxonomy and systematics Extant species The following table reports the English names proposed for the twelve species recognised by the listing of the International Ornithologist Committee Former species Some authorities, either presently or formerly, recognize several additional species as belonging to the genus ''Malurus'' including: * Wallace's fairywren (as ''Malurus wallacei'' and ''Malurus wallacii'') * Broad-billed fairywren (as ''Malurus grayi'') * Campbell's fairywren (as ''Malurus campbelli'') References * 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. T ...''. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chenorhamphus
''Chenorhamphus'' is a genus of birds in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. Taxonomy and systematics The species of the genus ''Chenorhamphus'' were formerly classified in the genus ''Malurus'' until a 2011 analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA showed high divergence between the two taxa resulting in them being re-split into separate species. The study also found them to lie in a separate clade with the genera ''Wallace's fairywren, Sipodotus'' and ''Clytomyias'' and distinct from the genus ''Malurus''. This led to the subsequent re-classification of the species into their own genus, ''Chenorhamphus''. The genus contains two species: * Broad-billed fairywren (''Chenorhamphus grayi'') * Campbell's fairywren (''Chenorhamphus campbelli'') References External links Chenorhamphus, Maluridae Bird genera Taxa named by Émile Oustalet {{Maluridae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallace's Fairywren
Wallace's fairywren (''Sipodotus wallacii'') is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Sipodotus''. It is found in New Guinea and the Aru Islands, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, forests. Taxonomy and systematics The Wallace's fairywren is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Sipodotus''. Wallace's fairywren was originally described in the genus ''Todopsis'' as ''Todopsis wallacii'' by George Robert Gray, G. R. Gray in 1862 on the basis of specimens collected by Charles Allen on Misool, Misool Island. Specimens from the Aru Islands were described as ''Todopsis coronata'' by John Gould in 1878. Gregory Mathews, Mathews established the monotypic genus ''Sipodotus'' for the Wallace's fairywren in 1928 on the basis of the shape of the bill and the nearly identical plumages of the male and female of the species. The species has also been placed in the genus Malurus. When the specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, the equivalent Latin term ''cladus'' (plural ''cladi'') is often used in taxonomical literature. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed monophyletic (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Campbell's Fairywren
Campbell's fairywren (''Chenorhamphus campbelli'') is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found in New Guinea. It is found in south-central and south-eastern New Guinea in its natural habitat of subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Taxonomy and systematics Formerly, this species was lumped with the broad-billed fairywren in the genus ''Malurus'' until a 2011 analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA showed high divergence between the two subspecies resulting in them being re-split into separate species. The study also found them to lie in a clade with the genera '' Sipodotus'' and ''Clytomyias The orange-crowned fairywren (''Clytomyias insignis'') is a species of passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Clytomyias''. It is found on New Guinea in its natural habitat of subtropical or ...'' leading to their subsequent re-classification in their own genus, ''Chenorhamphus''. The species ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broad-billed Fairywren
The broad-billed fairywren (''Chenorhamphus grayi'') is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found in northern and north-western New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Taxonomy and systematics The broad-billed fairywren was originally described in the obsolete genus '' Todopsis''. It was formerly lumped together with Campbell's fairywren in the genus ''Malurus'' until a 2011 analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA showed high divergence between the two subspecies resulting in them being re-split into separate species. The study also found them to lie in a clade with the genera '' Sipodotus'' and ''Clytomyias'' leading to their subsequent re-classification in their own genus, ''Chenorhamphus''. Alternate names for the broad-billed fairywren include broad-billed wren and broad-billed wren-warbler. Behaviour and ecology Diet Little is known about the diet of the broad-billed fairywren, although it is t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
