The cuckooshrikes and allies in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Campephagidae are small to medium-sized

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 are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

found in the subtropical and tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

. The 93 species are divided into 11

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

. The woodshrikes (''

Tephrodornis ''Tephrodornis'' is a bird genus usually placed in the Vangidae. There are four species: * Large woodshrike, ''Tephrodornis gularis''Vangidae, along with the philentomas and the flycatcher-shrikes. Another genus, ''

Chlamydochaera The fruithunter or fruit-hunter (''Chlamydochaera jefferyi''), also known as the black-breasted fruit-hunter, is an enigmatic species of bird currently placed with the typical thrushes in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to forests on the sout ...

'', which has one species, the

black-breasted fruithunter The fruithunter or fruit-hunter (''Chlamydochaera jefferyi''), also known as the black-breasted fruit-hunter, is an enigmatic species of bird currently placed with the typical thrushes in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to forests on the sou ...

, was often placed in this family but has now been shown to be a

thrush ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...

(Turdidae).

Taxonomy

Cuckooshrikes are not closely related to either the

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...

s or to the

shrike Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...

s; the name probably comes from the grey colour of many of the cuckooshrikes. Some of the species also bear a superficial resemblance to cuckoos, and have a similar undulating flight. The grey colouration has led to one of their other names, the greybird. In some parts of the world they have also been known as caterpillar-birds, a name derived from their diet. Although unsuspected earlier, DNA studies have suggested they may be related to the Old World orioles (Oriolidae), although they differ strongly in some morphological characteristics (such as

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

morphology and the arrangements of feathers on the wing). 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 of the Campephegidae published in 2010 found that the speciose genus ''

Coracina ''Coracina'' is a large genus of birds in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae. The genus was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1816. The type species was subsequently designated as the white-bellied cuckoosh ...

'' was non-

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

. In the resulting reorganization to create monophyletic genera five genera were resurrected. A large group of species previously assigned to ''Coracina'' was moved to '' Edolisoma'' and a group of Asian and Indian Ocean cuckooshrikes was moved to '' Lalage''. The African cuckooshrikes were moved to '' Ceblepyris'', and three species were placed in

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genera:

McGregor's cuckooshrike McGregor's cuckooshrike (''Malindangia mcgregori'') or the sharp-tailed cuckooshrike, is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is endemic to Mindanao island (Philippines). This species was formerly placed in the genus ''Coracina''. ...

was moved to ''Malindangia'', the

pygmy cuckooshrike The pygmy cuckooshrike (''Celebesica abbotti'') is a species of bird in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae. It is endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. This specie ...

was moved to ''Celebesica'' and the

blue cuckooshrike The blue cuckooshrike (''Cyanograucalus azureus'') is a species of bird in the Cuckooshrike family, Campephagidae. It is found from Sierra Leone and Liberia to eastern and south-western Democratic Republic of Congo. Its natural habitats are subt ...

was moved to ''Cyanograucalus''.

Description

Overall the cuckooshrikes are medium to small arboreal birds, generally long and slender. The smallest species is the

small minivet The small minivet (''Pericrocotus cinnamomeus'') is a small passerine bird. This minivet is found in tropical southern Asia from the Indian subcontinent east to Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Sou ...

at and , while the largest is the south Melanesian cuckooshrike at and .''National Geographic Complete Birds of the World'' by Jonathan Alderfer. National Geographic (2009), . They are predominantly greyish with white and black, although the minivets are brightly coloured in red, yellow and black, and the

of central

is all-over glossy blue. The four cuckooshrikes in the genus ''Campephaga'' exhibit sexual dimorphism, with males that have glossy black

plumage Plumage ( "feather") 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, ...

and bright red or yellow wattles, the females having more subdued olive-green plumage.

Habitat

Of the 93 species of cuckooshrike, the majority are forest birds. Some species are restricted to primary forest, like the

New Caledonian cuckooshrike The New Caledonian cuckooshrike or New Caledonian cicadabird (''Edolisoma anale'') is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is endemic to New Caledonia. Some taxonomists place this species in the genus Analisoma. Its natural habit ...

, others are able to use more disturbed forest. Around eleven species use much more open

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

, one

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n species, the

ground cuckooshrike The ground cuckoo-shrike (''Coracina maxima'') is an uncommon bird species endemic to Australia, occurring mainly in open woodland and arid grasslands throughout inland Australia, but also occasionally in areas on the east coast. Taxonomy ''Cor ...

being found in open plains and scrubland with few trees.

Behaviour

Ground Cuckoo-shrike nest atkinsons dec03

The 'true' cuckooshrikes are usually found singly, in pairs, and in small family groups, whereas the minivets, flycatcher-shrikes and wood-shrikes more frequently form small flocks. There is a considerable amount of variation within the family as a whole with regards to calls, some call very infrequently and some, principally the minivets, are extremely vocal. These are mainly

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

, and will take large hairy

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s. They have also been recorded eating small vertebrates, and some fruit, seeds and other plant matter. Information about the breeding of this family is incomplete, with many species having never been studied. In all the species studied the cuckooshrikes are

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

; in species that do not migrate these territories are maintained year-round. Cuckooshrikes are

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...

, with the pair bonds apparently lasting throughout the year. Only one instance of non-monogamous breeding has been recorded, an instance of polygyny in

white-winged triller The white-winged triller (''Lalage tricolor'') is one of the smaller members of the cuckooshrike family, Campephagidae. It is found throughout mainland Australia and possibly on the islands to the north, including New Guinea and eastern Indonesi ...

s in Australia, where one male aided two females in raising their young. Several species of cuckooshrike exhibit cooperative breeding. About four blotchy white, green or blue eggs are laid in a cup nest in a tree. Incubation is about two weeks.

List of genera

The family contains 93 species divided in 11 genera: * ''

Pericrocotus The minivets are passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Pericrocotus'' in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae. There are about 15 species, occurring mainly in forests in southern and eastern Asia. They are fairly small, slender birds with lon ...

'' – minivets (15 species) * '' Ceblepyris'' – cuckooshrikes (5 species) * ''

'' – cuckooshrikes (22 species) * ''

Campephaga ''Campephaga'' is a genus of bird in the cuckoo-shrike family Campephagidae. The genus contains four species: * Black cuckooshrike (''Campephaga flava'') * Petit's cuckooshrike (''Campephaga petiti'') * Red-shouldered cuckooshrike (''Campepha ...

'' – cuckooshrikes (4 species) * ''

Lobotos ''Lobotos'' is a genus of bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered ...

'' – wattled cuckooshrikes (2 species) * ''

Campochaera The golden cuckooshrike (''Campochaera sloetii'') is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Campochaera''. It is found in New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest ...

'' – golden cuckooshrike * ''

Malindangia McGregor's cuckooshrike (''Malindangia mcgregori'') or the sharp-tailed cuckooshrike, is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is endemic to Mindanao island (Philippines). This species was formerly placed in the genus ''Coracina''. ...

'' – McGregor's cuckooshrike * '' Edolisoma'' – cuckooshrikes and cicadabirds (22 species) * ''

Celebesica The pygmy cuckooshrike (''Celebesica abbotti'') is a species of bird in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae. It is endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. This specie ...

'' – pygmy cuckooshrike * ''

Cyanograucalus The blue cuckooshrike (''Cyanograucalus azureus'') is a species of bird in the Cuckooshrike family, Campephagidae. It is found from Sierra Leone and Liberia to eastern and south-western Democratic Republic of Congo. Its natural habitats are subt ...

'' – blue cuckooshrike * '' Lalage'' – trillers and cuckooshrikes (19 species)

References

*del Hoyo. J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., (eds), ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'', Volume Ten, Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes,

External links

Cuckooshrike videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from=Q732881 * Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors