Cisticolidae
Template:Short description Template:Automatic taxobox
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 in Africa, which has the majority of species, but there are representatives of the family across tropical Asia into Australasia, and one species, the zitting cisticola, breeds in Europe.
These are generally very small birds of drab brown or grey appearance found in open country such as grassland or scrub. They are often difficult to see and many species are similar in appearance, so the song is often the best identification guide. These are insectivorous birds which nest low in vegetation.
TaxonomyEdit
The family was introduced (as Cisticolinae) by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1872.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Many taxonomists place the red-winged prinia and the red-fronted prinia in the genus Prinia rather than in their own monotypic genera.<ref name=hbwrw>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=hbwrf>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Support for their placement in Prinia is provided by a molecular phylogenetic study of the Cisticolidae published in 2013 that found that both species were closely related to the prinias.<ref name=olsson/>
The following genus level cladogram of the Cisticolidae is based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Urban Olsson and collaborators that was published in 2013.<ref name=olsson>Template:Cite journal</ref> The number of species in each genus is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).<ref name=ioc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
List of generaEdit
The family contains 168 species divided into 26 genera:<ref name=ioc/> For more detail, see List of Cisticolidae species.
- Neomixis, jeries (3 species) (genus is basal to all other Cisticolidae)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Cisticola, cisticolas (53 species)
- Incana – monotypic, Socotra warbler (Incana incanus)
- Prinia, prinias (30 species)
- Schistolais (2 species)
- Phragmacia – monotypic, Namaqua warbler (Phragmacia substriata)
- Oreophilais – monotypic, Roberts's warbler (Oreophilais robertsi)
- Micromacronus (2 species)
- Urolais – monotypic, green longtail (Urolais epichlora)
- Oreolais, (2 species) – moved here from Apalis<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Drymocichla – monotypic, red-winged grey warbler (Drymocichla incana)
- Spiloptila – monotypic, cricket warbler (Spiloptila clamans)
- Phyllolais – monotypic, buff-bellied warbler (Phyllolais pulchella)
- Apalis, apalises (26 species)
- Malcorus – monotypic, rufous-eared warbler (Malcorus pectoralis)
- Hypergerus – monotypic, oriole warbler (Hypergerus atriceps)
- Eminia – monotypic, grey-capped warbler (Eminia lepida)
- Camaroptera (5 species)
- Calamonastes (4 species)
- Euryptila – monotypic, cinnamon-breasted warbler (Euryptila subcinnamomea)
- Bathmocercus, rufous warblers (2 species)
- Scepomycter – monotypic, Winifred's warbler (Scepomycter winifredae) - sometimes merged into Bathmocercus
- Orthotomus, tailorbirds (13 species)
- Artisornis (2 species)
- Poliolais – monotypic, white-tailed warbler (Poliolais lopezi)
- Eremomela (10 species)
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Template:Cite journal
- Cibois, A., Slikas, B., Schulenberg, T. S., & Pasquet, E. (2001). An endemic radiation of Malagasy songbirds is revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Evolution 55 (6): 1198–1206. DOI:10.1554/0014-3820(2001)055[1198:AEROMS]2.0.CO;2 PDF
- Ryan, Peter (2006). Family Cisticolidae (Cisticolas and allies). Pp. 378–492 in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2006) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers Lynx Edicions, Barcelona Template:ISBN
- Urban, E.K.; Fry, C.H. & Keith, S. (1997) The Birds of Africa, vol. 5. Academic Press, London. Template:ISBN
External linksEdit
- Cisticolidae videos on the Internet Bird Collection