The jungle babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly
Old World
The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...
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 belonging to the superfamily
Sylvioidea
Sylvioidea is a superfamily of passerine birds, one of at least three major clades within the Passerida along with the Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. It contains about 1300 species including the Old World warblers, Old World babblers, swallows ...
. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average the length of their body, or longer. These birds are found in tropical zones, with the greatest biodiversity in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
and the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
.
Morphological diversity is rather high; most species resemble
warbler
Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous.
Sylvioid warblers
Th ...
s,
jay
A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...
s or thrushes, making field identification difficult.
The family Pellorneidae was first introduced by the French-American ornithologist Jean Théodore Delacour in 1946. Pellorneidae used to be one of four subfamilies of Timaliidae (tree- and scimitar-babblers), but was then elevated to its own family rank in 2011 based on molecular markers.
Description
Jungle babblers are small to medium-sized birds which are on average 14 cm long and weigh around 30g, but range from 10–26 cm, and 12-36g
Divided between being
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
and
arboreal
Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...
, Pellorneidae have strong legs. They usually have generalised bills, similar to those of a thrush or
warbler
Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous.
Sylvioid warblers
Th ...
, with the exception of the long-billed wren-babbler (''Rimator malacoptilus'') and both species of scimitar babbler from the Jabouilleia genus which have long, curved bills. Most jungle babblers have predominantly brown plumage with little
sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
, but brightly coloured species of this family also exist. Many jungle babblers have distinctive 'eyebrows' and 'caps' which may help to differentiate them from similarly-sized and coloured species.
This group is not strongly migratory, and most
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 ...
have short rounded wings, and weak flight. They live in lightly wooded, scrubland, or jungle environments, ranging from swamp to near-desert. They are primarily insectivorous, although many will also take berries, and the larger,
omnivorous
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...
species will even eat small lizards and other vertebrates.
Behaviour
Jungle babblers are generally non-migratory, social birds, defined by their lack of seasonal plumage and unspotted juvenile plumage. These birds tend to be shy, but a few species are highly territorial and respond to playbacks of their vocalisations. Breeding behaviour is not well known for all species of jungle babbler, but some birds, such as the Streaked wren-babbler (''Napothera brevicaudata'') have adapted to their habitat by nesting in holes or shallow cavities in the limestone cliffs and boulders of their region. Others nest on the ground or in trees or shrubs. Care of nestlings by both parents is common, and cooperative breeding is prevalent among babblers
Distribution and habitat
Pellorneidae are found throughout the tropics of Asia and Africa. Preferring sheltered places, these birds tend to stick to the undergrowth or forest edge.
Taxonomy and systematics
Originally placed within Timaliidae as a subfamily, Pellorneidae was elevated into family status following a closer analysis of the superfamily Sylvioidea. Sylvioidea was initially considered too complex to differentiate using morphology due to multiple instances of convergent evolution, and it wasn't until molecular analysis was conducted that the superfamily was recognised to be non-monophyletic - hence Pellorneidae being recognised as a family. Pellorneidae is ia
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...
to a clade containing the families
Leiothrichidae
The laughingthrushes are a family, Leiothrichidae, of Old World passerine birds. They are diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire fam ...
and
Alcippeidae
''Alcippe'' is a genus of passerine birds in the monotypic family Alcippeidae. The genus once included many other fulvettas and was previously placed in families Pellorneidae or Timaliidae.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Alcippe'' previously included ...
Prinia
Prinia is a genus of small insectivorous birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They were at one time classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae.
The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a ...
'' (in the family
Cisticolidae
The family Cisticolidae is a group of about 160 warblers, small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They were formerly included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae.
This family probably originated ...
) to ''Laticilla''. Data sequencing using mitochondrial and nuclear markers revealed that ''P. burnesii'' and ''P. cinerascens'' belonged in a different family to the other members of Cisticolidae, with the results supported by
Bayesian inference
Bayesian inference is a method of statistical inference in which Bayes' theorem is used to update the probability for a hypothesis as more evidence or information becomes available. Bayesian inference is an important technique in statistics, a ...
Rusty-capped fulvetta
The rusty-capped fulvetta (''Schoeniparus dubius'') is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest
Mont ...
Laticilla
''Laticilla'' is a genus of small passerine birds in the family Pellorneidae. Members of the genus are found in Pakistan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh.
A molecular phylogenetic study of the Cisticolidae published in 2013 found that the rufous-ven ...
'' (species moved here from ''
Prinia
Prinia is a genus of small insectivorous birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They were at one time classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae.
The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a ...
'' in the
Cisticolidae
The family Cisticolidae is a group of about 160 warblers, small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They were formerly included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae.
This family probably originated ...
Abbott's babbler
Abbott's babbler (''Malacocincla abbotti'') is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is widely distributed along the Himalayas in South Asia and extending into the forests of Southeast Asia. They are short-tailed and stout birds which ...