Muscicapida is a
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, ...
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 heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
s in the order
Passeriformes. Oliveros, C.H. ''et al''. (2019) suggested a
gondwanan migration of this lineage from
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 ...
to
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
.
Systematics
The parvorder contains the following 19 families:
[H Kuhl, C Frankl-Vilches, A Bakker, G Mayr, G Nikolaus, S T Boerno, S Klages, B Timmermann, M Gahr (2020]
An unbiased molecular approach using 3’UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life
''Molecular Biology and Evolution''. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa191
*
Bombycilloidea
**
Dulidae: palmchat
**
Bombycillidae: waxwings
**
Ptiliogonatidae: silky flycatchers
**
Hylocitreidae: hylocitrea
**
Hypocoliidae: hypocolius
**†
Mohoidae: oos
*
Muscicapoidea
Muscicapoidea is a superfamily belonging to the infraorder Passerides containing the Old World flycatchers, thrushes, starlings and their allies. The superfamily contains around 670 species.
Within the parvorder Muscicapida, Muscicapoidea is s ...
**
Elachuridae
The spotted elachura or spotted wren-babbler (''Elachura formosa'') is a species of passerine bird found in the forests of the eastern Himalayas and Southeast Asia. In the past it was included in the babbler genus '' Spelaeornis'' as ''S. formos ...
: spotted elachura
**
Cinclidae: dippers
**
Muscicapidae: Old World flycatchers and chats
**
Turdidae: thrushes and allies
**
Buphagidae
The oxpeckers are two species of bird which make up the genus ''Buphagus'', and family (biology), family Buphagidae. The oxpeckers were formerly usually treated as a subfamily, Buphaginae, within the starling family, Sturnidae, but molecular p ...
: oxpeckers
**
Sturnidae: starlings and rhabdornis
**
Mimidae: mockingbirds and thrashers
*
Regulidae
A kinglet is a small bird in the family Regulidae. Species in this family were formerly classified with the Old World warblers. "Regulidae" is derived from the Latin word ''regulus'' for "petty king" or prince, and refers to the coloured crowns ...
: goldcrests and kinglets
*
Certhioidea
**
Tichodromidae: wallcreeper
**
Sittidae
The nuthatches () constitute a genus, ''Sitta'', of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs. Mo ...
: nuthatches
**
Certhiidae: treecreepers
**
Polioptilidae: gnatcatchers
**
Troglodytidae: wrens
The cladogram of Muscicapida shown below is based on the analysis of Carl Oliveros and colleagues published in 2019:
References
{{bird-stub
Passerida