Passeriformes

Rock wren Xenicus gilviventris, photographed by Pete McGregor.

Belongs within: Telluraves.
Contains: Tyranni, Menurae, Euoscines.

The Passeriformes are the passerine or perching birds, a clade including over half the living bird species. Passerines are primarily distinguished by their foot morphology, with an enlarged non-reversible hallux that is level with the other toes. Recent phylogenies have agreed in placing the Acanthisittidae, New Zealand wrens, at the base of the passerine tree. These are small, weakly flying birds with greatly reduced tails. Only two species of this family survive to the present day, the arboreal rifleman Acanthisitta chloris and the more terrestrial rock wren Xenicus gilviventris.

Synapomorphies (from Raikow 1982): Aegithognathous palate; tensor propatagialis brevis tendon extending through patagium to insertion on surface of extensor metacarpi radialis, then turning proximad and extending to insertion on humerus; spermatozoa bundled with coiled head and large acrosome; enlarged hallux; type VII deep plantar tendons (absent in Eurylaimidae); M. pubo-ischio femoralis with two sectors positioned cranially (pars cranialis) and caudally (pars caudalis) of each other; intrinsic foot muscles of digits II-IV absent (except occasional presence of reduced extensor brevis digiti IV).

Passeriformes [Ampelidae, Ampelididae, Clamatores, Eurylaimi, Oligomyodi]
    |--Wieslochia weissi M09
    |--Eupasseres EC02
    |    |--Tyranni EC02
    |    `--Passeri [Menuroidea, Oscines] OF19
    |         |--Menurae EC02
    |         `--Euoscines EC02
    `--Acanthisittidae [Acanthidosittidae, Acanthisitti, Acanthisittia, Acanthisittides, Acanthisittinae] EC02
         |  i. s.: Dendroscansor Millener & Worthy 1991 MW91
         |           `-*D. decurvirostris Millener & Worthy 1991 MW91
         |         Traversia Rothschild 1894 non Hooker 1864 (ICBN) [Traversiidae] CC10
         |           `--*T. lyalli Rothschild 1894 (see below for synonymy) CC10
         |         Pachyplichas Millener 1988 CC10
         |           |--*P. yaldwyni Millener 1988 CC10
         |           `--P. jagmi Millener 1988 CC10
         |--+--Kuiornis indicator OF19
         |  `--Acanthisitta Lafresnaye 1842 OF19, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
         |       `--A. chloris (Sparrman 1787) MW91 (see below for synonymy)
         |            |--A. c. chloris (see below for synonymy) CC10
         |            `--A. c. granti Mathews & Iredale 1913 [=Chlorisitta chloris granti] CC10
         `--Xenicus Gray 1855 OF19, CC10 [incl. Xenicornis Iredale & Mathews 1926 CC10; Xenicidae, Xenicornithidae]
              |--*X. longipes (Gmelin 1789) (see below for synonymy) CC10
              |    |--X. l. longipes CC10
              |    |--X. l. stokesii Gray 1862 [=X. longipes stokesi] CC10
              |    `--X. l. variabilis Stead 1936 [incl. Xenicornis longipes steadi Mathews 1944] CC10
              `--X. gilviventris Pelzeln 1867 (see below for synonymy) CC10

Passeriformes incertae sedis:
  Passerherbulus henslowii W69
  Pedinorhis stirpsarcana SWK87
  Ixocincla madagascariensis A61
  Nuttallornis borealis A61
  Penthestes atricapillus CM07
  Dendroscopus mahrattensis RD02
  Coquus USDI77
    |--C. newtoni USDI77
    `--C. typicus USDI77
  Hemipteryx Scl66
    |--H. immaculata Hartlaub in Sclater 1866 Scl66
    `--H. textrix Scl66
  Drymoeca subruficapilla Scl66
  Campicola pileata Scl66
  Bessonornis phoenicurus Scl66
  Petrocincla explorator Scl66
  Hyphantornis Scl66
    |--H. olivaceus Scl66
    `--H. spilonotus Scl66
  Chera progne Scl66
  Crithagra Scl66
    |--C. canicollis Scl66
    `--C. sulphurata Scl66
  Poliospiza gularis Scl66
  Fringillaria capensis Scl66
  Cuphopterus Hartlaub in Dohrn 1866 D66
    `--*C. dohrni Hartlaub in Dohrn 1866 D66
  Parinia leucophaea D66
  Buserinus rufilatus Hartlaub in Dohrn 1866 D66
  Symplectes princeps D66
  Bradyornis H66
    |--‘Crateropus’ guttatus H66
    `--B. spekei H66
  Mixornis W66
    |--M. flavicollis [=Timalia flavicollis] W66
    |--M. gularis (see below for synonymy) W66
    `--M. rubicapilla (Tickell 1833) [=Motacilla rubicapilla; incl. Mi. chloris, Mi. ruficeps] W66
  Otocompsa jocosa B66
  Calobates B66
    |--C. melanope [=Motacilla melanope] S89
    `--C. sulphurea B66
  Munia W66
    |--M. acuticauda W66
    |--M. amandava Sch66
    |--M. malabarica B66
    |--M. punctularia Sch66 [=Loxia punctularia W66]
    |--M. striata W66
    `--M. undulata [=Loxia undulata] W66
  Geobasileus R66
    |--G. chrysorrhous R66
    `--G. reguloides R66
  Turdicus Kretzoi 1962 M02
    `--*T. tenuis Kretzoi 1962 M02
  ‘Turdoides’ Jánossy 1979 non Crezschmar 1827 M02
    `--*T. borealis Jánossy 1979 M02

Acanthisitta Lafresnaye 1842 OF19, CC10 [=Acanthidositta Buller 1887 CC10; incl. Chlorisitta Mathews 1935 CC10]

Acanthisitta chloris (Sparrman 1787) MW91 [=Sitta chloris CC10, Acanthidositta chloris CC10, *Chlorisitta chloris CC10]

Acanthisitta chloris chloris (Sparrman 1787) [incl. Motacilla citrina Gmelin 1789, Acanthidositta citrina, Acanthisitta chloris citrina, Sylvia citrina, Motacilla citrinella Forster in Lichtenstein 1844, Sitta punctata Quoy & Gaimard in Dumont d’Urville 1830, Acanthisitta punctata, Acanthiza tenuirostris Lafresnaye 1841, *Acanthisitta tenuirostris] CC10

Mixornis gularis [=Motacilla gularis, Myiothera gularis, Timalia gularis; incl. Prinia pileata Blyth 1842, Mixornis sumatranus] W66

*Traversia lyalli Rothschild 1894 [=Xenicus lyalli; incl. X. insularis Buller 1895, Traversia insularis] CC10

Xenicus gilviventris Pelzeln 1867 [=Acanthisitta gilviventris, *Xenicornis longipes gilviventris, Zenicus (l. c.) gilviventris; incl. Xenicus haasti Buller 1869, Acanthisitta haastii, Xenicus gilviventris rineyi Falla 1953] CC10

*Xenicus longipes (Gmelin 1789) [=Motacilla longipes, Acanthisitta longipes, Sylvia longipes, Zenicus (l. c.) longipes] CC10

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Austin, O. L., Jr. 1961. Birds of the World: A survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families. Paul Hamlyn: London.

[B66] Bulger, G. E. 1866. List of birds observed at Wellington, Neilgherry Hills, about 6000 feet above the level of the sea, during the months of April and May, 1866. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 568–571.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[CM07] Cokendolpher, J. C., & P. G. Mitov. 2007. Natural enemies. In: Pinto-da-Rocha, R., G. Machado & G. Giribet (eds) Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones pp. 339–373. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[D66] Dohrn, H. 1866. Synopsis of the birds of Ilha do Principe, with some remarks on their habits and descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 324–332.

[EC02] Ericson, P. G. P., L. Christidis, M. Irestedt & J. A. Norman. 2002. Systematic affinities of the lyrebirds (Passeriformes: Menura), with a novel classification of the major groups of passerine birds. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 25: 53–62.

[H66] Hartlaub, G. 1866. On a new species of the genus Crateropus, Sw. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 435–436.

[M09] Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer.

[MW91] Millener, P. R., & T. H. Worthy. 1991. Contributions to New Zealand’s late Quaternary avifauna. II: Dendroscansor decurvirostris, a new genus and species of wren (Aves: Acanthisittidae). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 21: 179–200.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[OF19] Oliveros, C. H., D. J. Field, D. T. Ksepka, F. K. Barker, A. Aleixo, M. J. Andersen, P. Alström, B. W. Benz, E. L. Braun, M. J. Braun, G. A. Bravo, R. T. Brumfield, R. T. Chesser, S. Claramunt, J. Cracraft, A. M. Cuervo, E. P. Derryberry, T. C. Glenn, M. G. Harvey, P. A. Hosner, L. Joseph, R. T. Kimball, A. L. Mack, C. M. Miskelly, A. T. Peterson, M. B. Robbins, F. H. Sheldon, L. F. Silveira, B. T. Smith, N. D. White, R. G. Moyle & B. C. Faircloth. 2019. Earth history and the passerine superradiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 116 (16): 7916–7925.

Raikow, R. J. 1982. Monophyly of the Passeriformes: test of a phylogenetic hypothesis. Auk 99 (3): 431-455.

[R66] Ramsay, E. P. 1866. Notes on the most frequent fosterparents of the cuckoos of Australia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 571–577.

[RD02] Robin, V. V., & P. Davidar. 2002. The vertical stratification of birds in mixed species flocks at Parambikulam, south India: a comparison between two habitats. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 99 (3): 389–399.

[S89] Salvadori, T. 1889. Viaggio di Leonardo Fea nella Birmania e nelle regioni vicine. XIX.—Uccelli raccolti nei Monti Carin a nord-est di Tounghoo, nel Pegù presso Rangoon e Tounghoo e nel Tenasserim presso Malewoon. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 369–438.

[Sch66] Schlegel, H. 1866. Communication from, on mammals and birds collected in Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 419–426.

[Scl66] Sclater, P. L. 1866. Report on birds collected at Windvogelberg, South Africa, by Capt. G. E. Bulger, C. M. Z. S. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 21–23.

[SWK87] Snyder, N. F. R., J. W. Wiley & C. B. Kepler. 1987. The Parrots of Luquillo: Natural history and conservation of the Puerto Rican parrot. Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology: Los Angeles.

[USDI77] USDI (United States Department of the Interior). 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.

[W66] Walden, A. 1866. Notes on birds collected in Tennasserim and in the Andaman Islands. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 537–556.

[W69] Wiens, J. A. 1969. An approach to the study of ecological relationships among grassland birds. Ornithological Monographs 8: 1-93.

Last updated: 27 July 2019.