Stenostiridae, or the fairy flycatchers, are a family of small

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 proposed as a result of recent discoveries in molecular systematics.Beresford ''et al.'' (2005) They are also referred to as stenostirid warblers.

Taxonomy and systematics

This new

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, ...

is named after the

fairy flycatcher The fairy flycatcher or fairy warbler (''Stenostira scita'') is a small passerine bird. Formerly placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae, it is now separated with some other "odd flycatchers" as the new family Stenostiridae (Bere ...

, a distinct species placed formerly in the

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. This is united with the "sylvioid flycatchers": the genus ''Elminia'' (formerly placed in the Monarchinae) and the closely allied former Old World flycatcher genus ''Culicicapa'', as well as one species formerly believed to be an aberrant

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

. * Genus '' Stenostira'' – fairy "warbler" or fairy "flycatcher" **

Fairy flycatcher The fairy flycatcher or fairy warbler (''Stenostira scita'') is a small passerine bird. Formerly placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae, it is now separated with some other "odd flycatchers" as the new family Stenostiridae (Bere ...

, ''Stenostira scita'' * Genus ''

Elminia ''Elminia'' is a genus of bird in the flycatcher family Stenostiridae. The genus is endemic to Africa. It contains the following species: * African blue flycatcher (''Elminia longicauda'') * White-tailed blue flycatcher (''Elminia albicauda'') ...

'' (includes ''Trochocercus'') **

African blue flycatcher The African blue flycatcher or blue-crested flycatcher (''Elminia longicauda'') is a species of bird in the family Stenostiridae from western and central Sub-Saharan Africa. Description The African blue flycatcher is a dainty, pale, bright blue ...

, ''Elminia longicauda'' **

White-tailed blue flycatcher The white-tailed blue flycatcher (''Elminia albicauda'') is a species of bird in the family Stenostiridae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Its natural ...

, ''Elminia albicauda'' **

Dusky crested flycatcher The dusky crested flycatcher (''Elminia nigromitrata'') is a species of bird in the family Stenostiridae. It is widespread across the African tropical rainforest. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtro ...

, ''Elminia nigromitrata'' **

White-bellied crested flycatcher The white-bellied crested flycatcher (''Elminia albiventris'') is a bird species in the family Stenostiridae; it was formerly placed with the drongos in the Dicruridae. It is native to the Cameroon line (including Bioko) and the Albertine Rif ...

, ''Elminia albiventris'' **

White-tailed crested flycatcher The white-tailed crested flycatcher (''Elminia albonotata'') is a species of bird in the flycatcher family Stenostiridae. It has a discontinuous distribution in eastern Africa. There are three subspecies, ''E. a. albonotata'' of central Kenya, a ...

, ''Elminia albonotata'' * Genus '' Chelidorhynx'' (formerly in ''

Rhipidura Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

'') **

Yellow-bellied fantail The yellow-bellied fantail (''Chelidorhynx hypoxanthus''), also known as the yellow-bellied fairy-fantail, is found in the Indian subcontinent, the Himalayas, and portions of Southeast Asia including Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar. It is about 8 ...

, ''Chelidorhynx hypoxanthus'' * Genus '' Culicicapa'' **

Grey-headed canary-flycatcher The grey-headed canary-flycatcher (''Culicicapa ceylonensis''), sometimes known as the grey-headed flycatcher, is a species of small flycatcher-like bird found in tropical Asia. It has a square crest, a grey hood and yellow underparts. They are ...

, ''Culicicapa ceylonensis'' **

Citrine canary-flycatcher The citrine canary-flycatcher (''Culicicapa helianthea'') is a species of bird in the family Stenostiridae. The term ''citrine'' refers to its yellowish colouration. It is found in Sulawesi and the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropi ...

, ''Culicicapa helianthea'' Other African or Asian species might conceivably fall into this novel

. The tit-flycatchers (''Myioparus'') are apparently true flycatchers morphologically somewhat convergent to ''Stenostira''. The Stenostiridae as a whole are related to penduline tits, titmice and chickadees. All these appear to be closer to the

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, ...

than to other

Passerida Passerida is, under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two parvorders contained within the suborder Passeri (standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder). While more recent research suggests that its sister parvorder ...

, but this is not robustly supported by the available data and they might constitute a distinct, more basal

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

.Barker ''et al.'' (2004)

References

Footnotes

Sources

* Alström, Per; Ericson, Per G.P.; Olsson, Urban & Sundberg, Per (2006): Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 38(2): 381–397. * Barker, F. Keith; Cibois, Alice; Schikler, Peter A.; Feinstein, Julie & Cracraft, Joel (2004): Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation. ''

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...

'' 101(30): 11040–11045. PDF fulltextSupporting information
* * Fuchs, J.; Fjeldså, J.; Bowie, R. C. K.; Voelker, G. & Pasquet, E. (2006): The African warbler genus ''Hyliota'' as a lost lineage in the oscine songbird tree: Molecular support for an African origin of the Passerida. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(1): 186–197. (HTML fulltext) * Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). '' Zool. Scripta'' 35(2): 149–186. (HTML abstract) {{Taxonbar, from=Q1073271