Myadestinae (the turdid solitaires) are a subfamily of

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 ...

s in the family

Turdidae 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 flycat ...

. Members of this group have been noted by

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

s to be rather unusual in that they lack the typical diagnostic traits seen in the "true" thrushes of the sister subfamily

Turdinae Turdinae (the turdine thrushes) are a subfamily of passerine birds in the family Turdidae. They are the sister clade to the subfamily Myadestinae. The divergence between myadestines and turdines occurred 11 million years ago in the Serravallian. ...

. Examples of including the lack syringeal morphology seen in turdines and the feeding ecology of myadestines being similar to those of

Old World flycatcher The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Norther ...

s. A 2005 molecular study from Klicka et al. found support in a basal clade consisting of the genera ''

Sialia The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

'', ''

Neocossyphus The ant thrushes are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus ''Neocossyphus'' of the thrush family Turdidae. These are African forest dwelling species. The genus ''Stizorhina'' is sometimes placed here. Species The following species are c ...

'', ''

Stizorhina The rufous thrushes, also known as flycatcher-thrushes, are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus ''Stizorhina'' of the thrush family Turdidae. These are African forest dwelling species. They are sometimes placed in the genus ''Neocossyp ...

'', and ''

Myadestes ''Myadestes'' is a genus of Solitaire (bird), solitaires, medium-sized mostly Insectivore, insectivorous birds in the thrush (bird), thrush family, Turdidae. They are found in the Americas and Hawaii, Hawaii, where several island species have b ...

'' to be sister to the rest of the thrushes. The divergence between myadestines and turdines occurred 11 million years ago in the

Serravallian The Serravallian is, in the geologic timescale, an List of time periods, age or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the middle Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series, which spans the time between 13.82 annum, Ma and 11.63 Ma (m ...

References

* Bird subfamilies {{Turdidae-stub