Stenostiridae

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Stenostiridae
Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Suborder: Passeri
Family: Stenostiridae
Beresford, F.K. Barker, Ryan & Crowe, 2005

Stenostiridae is a family of small passerine birds proposed as a result of recent discoveries in molecular systematics (Beresford et al. 2005). They are commonly referred to as stenostirid warblers.

This new clade is named after the Fairy Warbler, a distinct species placed formerly in the Old World flycatchers. 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. (Beresford et al. 2005, Fuchs et al. 2006)

Its genera and species are:

  • Genus Stenostira – Fairy "Warbler" or Fairy "Flycatcher"

Other African or Asian species might conceivably fall into this novel clade. The tit-flycatchers (Myioparus) are apparently true flycatchers morphologically somewhat convergent to Stenostira (Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006).

White-tailed Blue-flycatcher. Photographed at Bwindi, SW Uganda
White-tailed Blue-flycatcher. Photographed at Bwindi, SW Uganda

The Stenostiridae as a whole are related to penduline tits, titmice and chickadees. All these appear to be closer to the Sylvioidea than to other Passerida, but this is not robustly supported by the available data and they might constitute a distinct, more basal superfamily.(Alström et al. 2006, Beresford et al. 2005, Barker et al. 2004)

[edit] References

  • 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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.015
  • 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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.07.020 (HTML fulltext)