Formicariidae is a

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

of smallish

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 th ...

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 lightweig ...

s of subtropical and tropical Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

known as formicariids. They are between in length, and are related to the

antbird The antbirds are a large passerine bird family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 230 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire ...

s, Thamnophilidae, and

gnateater The gnateaters are a bird family, Conopophagidae, consisting of ten small passerine species in two genera, which occur in South and Central America. The family was formerly restricted to the gnateater genus ''Conopophaga''; analysis of mtDNA cy ...

s, Conopophagidae. This family contains probably (see below) some 12

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 ...

in two fairly small genera. These are forest birds that tend to feed on insects at or near the ground. Most are drab in appearance with shades of (rusty) brown, black, and white being their dominant tones. Compared to other birds that specialize in following ants, this family is the most tied to the ground. The long, powerful legs (which lend the birds a distinctive upright posture) and an essentially

vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

tail aid this lifestyle. They lay two or three eggs in a nest in a tree, both sexes incubating.

Systematics

The antthrushes in the genera ''Formicarius'' and ''Chamaeza'' are similar in appearance to small

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

. Their sexes are alike in plumage, and they walk like

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus '' Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...

s. The ''thrush'' part of the name refers only to the similarity in size (and in ''Chamaeza'' also coloration) to true

thrushes The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flyca ...

, not to an

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

ary relationship. Recent research (Irestedt ''et al.'' 2002, Rice 2005a,b) indicates that the Formicariidae as previously delimited are highly paraphyletic, judging from comparison of several mt and

nDNA Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. It encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. I ...

sequences In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called t ...

. The aberrant bar-bellied "antpittas" of the genus ''

Pittasoma ''Pittasoma'' is a genus of birds in the gnateater family. Its two members breed in subtropical or tropical moist forest in South and Central America, specifically the Chocó, and Panama and Costa Rica. Formerly placed in the family Formicariid ...

,'' which were formerly placed here, belong to the

family (which initially was also considered part of the Formicariidae); as the gnateaters proper, they are sexually dichromatic. In addition, the true antpittas formerly placed in this family are now found in their own family, the

Grallariidae Grallariidae is a family of smallish passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antpittas. They are between 10 and 20 cm (4–8 in) in length, and are related to the antbirds, Thamnophilidae, and gna ...

. On the other hand, at least a large proportion of the Rhinocryptidae (tapaculos), including the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal ...

Rhinocrypta The crested gallito (''Rhinocrypta lanceolata'') is a species of bird in the family Rhinocryptidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Taxonomy and systematics The crested gallito is the only species in its genus. Two subspecies ...

'', seem to be closer to the antthrushes, but are still considered a distinct family. Very little molecular data is currently available for rhinocryptids, which are moreover rather non-diagnostic morphologically. As relationships with related groups such as ovenbirds have not been fully resolved, it is certain that the systematics of the group will be revised soon, but it is not clear how exactly the new systematic lineup will be. On the other hand, morphological, behavioral and molecular analyses of the true antpittas agree astoundingly well as regards their internal systematics, considering the high amount of lifestyle-related homoplasies in the birds discussed here. Recent taxonomic favor has moved three major lineages – antthrushes, tapaculos and allies, and antpittas into separate families.

Antthrushes

Typical antthrushes - tribe Formicariini/subfamily Formicariinae

References

* Irestedt, Martin; Fjeldså, Jon; Johansson, Ulf S. & Ericson, Per G.P. (2002): Systematic relationships and biogeography of the tracheophone suboscines (Aves: Passeriformes). ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 23(3): 499–512. (HTML abstract) * Rice, Nathan H. (2005a): Phylogenetic relationships of antpitta genera (Passeriformes: Formicariidae). '' Auk'' 122(2): 673–683. nglish with Spanish abstract DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122 673:PROAGP.0.CO;2PDF fulltext
* Rice, Nathan H. (2005b): Further Evidence for Paraphyly of the Formicariidae (Passeriformes). ''

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vu ...

'' 107(4): 910–915. nglish with Spanish abstractPDF fulltext

External links

*
Formicariidae videos, photos and sounds
on the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from=Q461021 Bird families Higher-level bird taxa restricted to the Neotropics Tyranni Taxa named by George Robert Gray