Petroicidae

Canary flyrobin Microeca papuana, photographed by Carmelo López.

Belongs within: Passerides.
Contains: Petroica.

The Petroicidae include the Australasian robins, a group of small insectivorous birds found primarily in wooded areas. Molecular data also support the inclusion of the scrub-robins of the genus Drymodes, which have longer legs and tail than other members of the family.

Characters (from The Internet Bird Collection): Small, rather stocky passerines with large rounded head and rather big eyes, short to moderately long, straight, thin bill with upper mandible hooked to varying degree, some with broader, flatter bill, most species with moderately long and slender legs, rounded to slightly pointed wings, short to moderately long tail, a few with very short or very long tail; plumage generally olive, grey, brown or black above, often with pale wingbar, and frequently more colourful below, some species black, grey and white, a few taxa all black.

<==Petroicidae [Eopsaltriidae, Petroicinae]
    |  i. s.: Monachella muelleriana JT12
    |         Devioeca papuana OF19
    |--+--Amalocichla BKB15
    |  |    |--A. incerta JT12
    |  |    `--A. sclateriana JT12
    |  `--Pachycephalopsis BKB15
    |       |--P. poliosoma BKB15
    |       `--+--P. hattamensis BKB15
    |          `--Petroica BKB15
    `--+--‘Microeca’ papuana BKB15
       `--+--Microeca BKB15
          |    |  i. s.: M. brunneicauda Campbell 1902 [incl. M. brunneicauda tormenti Mathews 1916] WS48
          |    |         M. flavovirescens JT12
          |    |         M. hemixantha JT12
          |    |         M. leucophaea (Latham 1801) [=Sylvia leucophaea] WS48
          |    |           |--M. l. leucophaea WS48
          |    |           |--M. l. assimilis Gould 1840 WS48 [=M. fascinans assimilis M03]
          |    |           `--M. l. subpallida Mathews 1912 [=M. fascinans subpallida] WS48
          |    |--M. griseoceps BKB15
          |    `--+--‘Eopsaltria’ flaviventris JT12 [incl. E. flavigastra S13]
          |       `--M. flavigaster Gould 1842 BKB15, WS48
          |            |--M. f. flavigaster M03
          |            |--M. f. laetissima M03
          |            `--M. f. tormenti Mathews 1916 PCC13
          `--+--Drymodes Gould 1841 JT12, B94 [Drymodinae]
             |    |--D. brunneopygia Gould 1840 [incl. Drymoeodus pallidus Sharpe 1883] WS48
             |    `--D. superciliaris JT12
             |         |--D. s. superciliaris M03
             |         `--D. s. colcloughi M03
             `--+--+--Heteromyias albispecularis JT12
                |  `--Poecilodryas JT12
                |       |--P. albonotata JT12
                |       |--P. brachyura JT12
                |       |--P. cerviniventris (Gould 1857) JT12, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
                |       |--P. hypoleuca JT12
                |       |--P. placens JT12
                |       |--P. pulverulenta (Bonaparte 1851) [=Myiolestes pulverulentus] WS48
                |       |    |--P. p. pulverulenta WS48
                |       |    `--P. p. cinereiceps Hartert 1905 [incl. Pachycephala leucura connectens Mathews 1912] WS48
                |       `--P. superciliosa (Gould 1846) [=Petroica superciliosa] WS48
                `--+--+--+--‘Eopsaltria’ pulverulenta BKB15
                   |  |  `--Peneothello BKB15
                   |  |      |--P. cyanus BKB15
                   |  |      `--P. sigillata BKB15
                   |  `--+--‘Peneothello’ bimaculata BKB15
                   |     `--Melanodryas JT12
                   |          |--M. cucullata (Latham 1801) WS48 (see below for synonymy)
                   |          `--M. vittata (Quoy & Gaimard 1830) [=Petroeca vittata, M. (Amaurodryas) vittata] CC10
                   `--Eopsaltria Swainson 1832 BKB15, B94
                        |  i. s.: E. nana N87
                        |--+--E. australis JT12
                        |  |    |--E. a. australis M03
                        |  |    `--E. a. chrysorrhoa M03
                        |  `--E. griseogularis Gould 1838 JT12, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
                        |       |--E. g. griseogularis M03 [=E. australis griseogularis SJ85]
                        |       `--E. g. rosinae M03
                        `--+--E. georgiana (Quoy & Gaimard 1830) JT12, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
                           `--Tregellasia JT12
                                |--T. capito JT12
                                |    |--T. c. capito M03
                                |    `--T. c. nana M03
                                `--T. leucops JT12

Eopsaltria georgiana (Quoy & Gaimard 1830) JT12, WS48 [=Muscicapa georgiana WS48; incl. E. leucogaster Gould 1846 WS48, Quoyornis georgianus warreni Mathews 1916 WS48]

Eopsaltria griseogularis Gould 1838 JT12, WS48 [incl. Muscicapa gularis Quoy & Gaimard 1830 (preoc.) WS48, E. gularis R87, E. griseogularis quoyi Mathews 1920 WS48, E. griseogularis wongani Mathews 1920 WS48]

Melanodryas cucullata (Latham 1801) WS48 [=Muscicapa cucullata WS48, Petroica cucullata JF06; incl. Melanodryas picata Gould 1865 WS48, P. cucullata westralensis Mathews 1912 WS48]

Poecilodryas cerviniventris (Gould 1857) JT12, WS48 [=Petroica cerviniventris WS48, Po. superciliosa cerviniventris WS48; incl. Pachycephala superciliosa belcheri Mathews 1912 WS48, Po. superciliosa derbyi Mathews 1913 WS48]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[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.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[JF06] Jønsson, K. A., & J. Fjeldså. 2006. A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds. Zoologica Scripta 35: 149–186.

[M03] Morcombe, M. 2003. Field Guide to Australian Birds 2^nd ed. Steve Parish Publishing.

[N87] North, A. J. 1887. List of references to authentic descriptions of Australian birds' eggs. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1163–1174.

[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.

[PCC13] Pearson, D. J., M. A. Cowan & W. Caton. 2013. The avifauna of larger islands along the Kimberley coast, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81: 125–144.

[R87] Ramsay, E. P. 1887. Descriptions of Australian birds' eggs. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1141–1152, pl. 19.

[S13] Sarasin, F. 1913. Die Vögel Neu-Caledoniens und der Loyalty-Inseln. In: Sarasin, F., & J. Roux (eds) Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1 pt 1 pp. 1–78, pls 1–3. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.

[SJ85] Storr, G. M., & R. E. Johnstone. 1985. Field Guide to the Birds of Western Australia 2^nd ed. Western Australian Museum: Perth (Australia).

[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.

Last updated: 24 July 2019.