55-403: The white-naped honeyeater ( Melithreptus lunatus ) is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to eastern Australia . Birds from southwestern Australia have been shown to be a distinct species, Gilbert's honeyeater , and the eastern birds are more closely related to the black-headed honeyeater of Tasmania. One of several similar species of black-headed honeyeaters in
110-403: A family ( Acanthisittidae ) of tiny passerines endemic to New Zealand . They were represented by seven Holocene species in four or five genera , although only two species in two genera survive today. They are understood to form a distinct lineage within the passerines, but authorities differ on their assignment to the oscines or suboscines (the two suborders that between them make up
165-502: A tui -sized bird) and several bones of at least one species of saddleback -sized bird have recently been described. These date from the Early to Middle Miocene ( Awamoan to Lillburnian , 19–16 mya). In Europe, perching birds are not too uncommon in the fossil record from the Oligocene onward, belonging to several lineages: That suboscines expanded much beyond their region of origin
220-461: A clearer picture of passerine origins and evolution that reconciles molecular affinities, the constraints of morphology, and the specifics of the fossil record. The first passerines are now thought to have evolved in the Southern Hemisphere in the late Paleocene or early Eocene , around 50 million years ago. The initial diversification of passerines coincides with the separation of
275-471: A distinct super-family Certhioidea . This list is in taxonomic order, placing related families next to one another. The families listed are those recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). The order and the division into infraorders, parvorders, and superfamilies follows the phylogenetic analysis published by Carl Oliveros and colleagues in 2019. The relationships between
330-469: A dozen and other species around five or six. The family Viduidae do not build their own nests, instead, they lay eggs in other birds' nests. The Passeriformes contain several groups of brood parasites such as the viduas , cuckoo-finches , and the cowbirds . The evolutionary history of the passerine families and the relationships among them remained rather mysterious until the late 20th century. In many cases, passerine families were grouped together on
385-514: A genetic bottleneck caused by the marine transgression during the Oligocene , when most of New Zealand was under water. The earliest known fossil is Kuiornis indicator from the Early Miocene St Bathans fauna . Kuiornis is thought to be more closely related to Acanthisitta than to other Acanthisittids. The relationships between genera and species were formerly poorly understood. The extant genus Acanthisitta has one species,
440-545: A pre- Paleogene origin of passerines is highly disputed and tends to be rejected in more recent studies. As no evidence indicates passerines were flightless when they arrived on New Zealand (that apomorphy is extremely rare and unevenly distributed in Passeriformes), they are not required by present theories to have been distinct in the Mesozoic . As unequivocal Passeriformes are known from Australia some 55 million years ago,
495-534: Is a member of the genus Melithreptus , with several species of similar size and (apart from the brown-headed honeyeater ) black-headed appearance, in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae . The next closest relative outside the genus is the much larger, but similarly marked, blue-faced honeyeater . More recently, DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and
550-804: Is a thick-walled bowl of grasses and bits of bark in the fork of a tall tree, usually a eucalypt. Two or three eggs are laid, 18 mm × 14 mm (0.71 in × 0.55 in) in size, and shiny, buff-pink, sparsely spotted with red-brown. Passerine and see text A passerine ( / ˈ p æ s ə r aɪ n / ) is any bird of the order Passeriformes ( / ˈ p æ s ə r ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / ; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds , passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes
605-471: Is an ornithological mystery, as they are thought to live above the snow line where obtaining food during the winter would be extremely difficult. Searches have found no evidence that they move altitudinally during the winter, but they are also absent from their normal territories. They may enter a state of torpor (like the hummingbirds of the Americas or a number of Australian passerines) during at least part of
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#1733100550986660-482: Is currently divided into three suborders: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni , (suboscines) and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The Passeri is now subdivided into two major groups recognized now as Corvides and Passerida respectively containing the large superfamilies Corvoidea and Meliphagoidea , as well as minor lineages, and the superfamilies Sylvioidea , Muscicapoidea , and Passeroidea but this arrangement has been found to be oversimplified. Since
715-887: Is more scant before the Pleistocene, from which several still-existing families are documented. Apart from the indeterminable MACN -SC-1411 (Pinturas Early/Middle Miocene of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), an extinct lineage of perching birds has been described from the Late Miocene of California, United States: the Palaeoscinidae with the single genus Palaeoscinis . "Palaeostruthus" eurius (Pliocene of Florida) probably belongs to an extant family, most likely passeroidean . Acanthisitti – New Zealand wrens (1 family containing 7 species, only 2 extant) Tyranni – suboscines (16 families containing 1,356 species) Passeri – oscines (125 families containing 5,158 species) The Passeriformes
770-523: Is proven by several fossils from Germany such as a presumed broadbill ( Eurylaimidae ) humerus fragment from the Early Miocene (roughly 20 mya) of Wintershof , Germany, the Late Oligocene carpometacarpus from France listed above, and Wieslochia , among others. Extant Passeri super-families were quite distinct by that time and are known since about 12–13 mya when modern genera were present in
825-442: Is the long-tailed widowbird . The chicks of passerines are altricial : blind, featherless, and helpless when hatched from their eggs. Hence, the chicks require extensive parental care. Most passerines lay colored eggs, in contrast with nonpasserines, most of whose eggs are white except in some ground-nesting groups such as Charadriiformes and nightjars , where camouflage is necessary, and in some parasitic cuckoos , which match
880-459: Is the short-tailed pygmy tyrant , at 6.5 cm (2.6 in) and 4.2 g (0.15 oz). The foot of a passerine has three toes directed forward and one toe directed backward, called anisodactyl arrangement. The hind toe ( hallux ) is long and joins the leg at approximately the same level as the front toes. This arrangement enables passerine birds to easily perch upright on branches. The toes have no webbing or joining, but in some cotingas ,
935-545: Is the largest order of birds and among the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates , representing 60% of birds. Passerines are divided into three suborders : Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (composed mostly of South American suboscines), and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). Passerines originated in the Southern Hemisphere around 60 million years ago. Most passerines are insectivorous or omnivorous , and eat both insects and fruit or seeds. The terms "passerine" and "Passeriformes" are derived from
990-402: Is thinner than other similar species. Juveniles have brownish crowns and an orange base of the bill. Its call is a mjerp mjerp . It is found in eucalypt forest and woodlands. Its diet is principally nectar from a variety of flowers, supplemented by insects and various other invertebrates. White-naped honeyeaters may nest from July to December, breeding once or twice during this time. The nest
1045-652: The Corvida and numerous minor lineages make up songbird diversity today. Extensive biogeographical mixing happens, with northern forms returning to the south, southern forms moving north, and so on. Perching bird osteology , especially of the limb bones, is rather diagnostic. However, the early fossil record is poor because passerines are relatively small, and their delicate bones do not preserve well. Queensland Museum specimens F20688 ( carpometacarpus ) and F24685 ( tibiotarsus ) from Murgon, Queensland , are fossil bone fragments initially assigned to Passeriformes . However,
1100-446: The Early Miocene St Bathans fauna New Zealand wrens are tiny birds; the rifleman is the smallest of New Zealand's birds. Their length ranges from 7 to 10 cm and their weight ranges from as little as 5–7 g for the rifleman, to an estimated 50 g for the extinct stout-legged wren . The New Zealand rock wren (and probably the bushwren) weighs between 14 and 22 g and the extinct long-billed wren weighed around 30 g. The plumage of
1155-478: The Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea . Gilbert's honeyeater , found in southwest Western Australia , was initially described as a separate species by John Gould in 1844, before being reclassified as a subspecies of the white-naped for many years. However, a molecular study published in 2010 showed that it had diverged before the split of populations in eastern Australia into
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#17331005509861210-503: The Monterey pine . It also enters other human-modified habitat when it adjoins native forest. Like all New Zealand passerines, the New Zealand wrens are sedentary and are not thought to undertake any migrations . It is not known if the extinct species migrated, but it is considered highly unlikely, as three of the extinct species were flightless. The situation with the New Zealand rock wren
1265-621: The Old World warblers and Old World babblers have turned out to be paraphyletic and are being rearranged. Several taxa turned out to represent highly distinct lineages, so new families had to be established, some of theirs – like the stitchbird of New Zealand and the Eurasian bearded reedling – monotypic with only one living species. In the Passeri alone, a number of minor lineages will eventually be recognized as distinct superfamilies. For example,
1320-631: The crows , do not sound musical to human beings. Some, such as the lyrebird , are accomplished mimics. The New Zealand wrens are tiny birds restricted to New Zealand , at least in modern times; they were long placed in Passeri. Most passerines are smaller than typical members of other avian orders. The heaviest and altogether largest passerines are the thick-billed raven and the larger races of common raven , each exceeding 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) and 70 cm (28 in). The superb lyrebird and some birds-of-paradise , due to very long tails or tail coverts, are longer overall. The smallest passerine
1375-445: The kinglets constitute a single genus with less than 10 species today but seem to have been among the first perching bird lineages to diverge as the group spread across Eurasia. No particularly close relatives of theirs have been found among comprehensive studies of the living Passeri, though they might be fairly close to some little-studied tropical Asian groups. Nuthatches , wrens , and their closest relatives are currently grouped in
1430-476: The ovenbirds and antbirds . Sibley's 1970 study comparing egg-white proteins moved them to the oscines, but later studies, including the 1982 DNA-DNA hybridization study, suggested the family was a sister taxon to the suboscines and the oscines. This theory has proven most robust since then and the New Zealand wrens might be the survivors of a lineage of passerines that was isolated when New Zealand broke away from Gondwana 82–85 million years ago (Mya), though
1485-490: The rifleman , and the other surviving genus, Xenicus , includes the New Zealand rock wren and the recently extinct bushwren. Some authorities have retained Lyall's wren in Xenicus as well, but it is often afforded its own monotypic genus, Traversia . The stout-legged wren (genus Pachyplichas ) was originally split into two species, but more recent research disputes this. The final genus was Dendroscansor , which had one species,
1540-503: The scientific name of the house sparrow , Passer domesticus , and ultimately from the Latin term passer , which refers to sparrows and similar small birds. The order is divided into three suborders, Tyranni (suboscines), Passeri (oscines or songbirds), and the basal Acanthisitti . Oscines have the best control of their syrinx muscles among birds, producing a wide range of songs and other vocalizations, though some of them, such as
1595-402: The superb lyrebird has 16, and several spinetails in the family Furnariidae have 10, 8, or even 6, as is the case of Des Murs's wiretail . Species adapted to tree trunk climbing such as treecreepers and woodcreeper have stiff tail feathers that are used as props during climbing. Extremely long tails used as sexual ornaments are shown by species in different families. A well-known example
1650-480: The New Zealand wrens is only known for the four species seen by European scientists. All these species have dull green and brown plumage and all except Lyall's wren have a prominent supercilium above the eye. The plumage of males and females were alike in Lyall's wren and the bushwren; the New Zealand rock wren shows slight sexual dimorphism in its plumage and differences between the plumage of riflemen are pronounced, with
1705-519: The Passeriformes). More recent studies suggest that they form a third, most ancient, suborder Acanthisitti and have no living close relatives at all. They are called "wrens" because of similarities in appearance and behaviour to the true wrens (Troglodytidae) but are not members of that family. New Zealand wrens are mostly insectivorous foragers of New Zealand's forests, with one species, the New Zealand rock wren , being restricted to alpine areas. Both
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1760-443: The absence of mammals for many millions of years and the family was losing the ability to fly . Three species are thought to have lost the power of flight: the stout-legged wren, the long-billed wren and Lyall's wren. The skeletons of these species have massively reduced keels in the sternum and the flight feathers of Lyall's wren also indicate flightlessness. Contemporary accounts of the Lyall's wrens on Stephens Island describe
1815-609: The acanthisittids' ancestors likely arrived in the Late Paleocene from Australia or the then- temperate Antarctic coasts. Plate tectonics indicate that the shortest distance between New Zealand and those two continents was roughly 1,500 km (930 mi) at that time. New Zealand's minimum distance from Australia is a bit more today – some 1,700 km (1,100 mi) – whereas it is now at least 2,500 km (1,600 mi) from Antarctica. The extant species are closely related and thought to be descendants of birds that survived
1870-484: The alpine areas of the South Island and is considered vulnerable. The taxonomy of the New Zealand wrens has been a subject of considerable debate since their discovery, although they have long been known to be an unusual family. In the 1880s, Forbes assigned the New Zealand wrens to the suboscines related to the cotingas and the pittas (and gave the family the name Xenicidae). Later, they were thought to be closer to
1925-545: The basis of morphological similarities that, it is now believed, are the result of convergent evolution , not a close genetic relationship. For example, the wrens of the Americas and Eurasia , those of Australia , and those of New Zealand look superficially similar and behave in similar ways, yet belong to three far-flung branches of the passerine family tree; they are as unrelated as it is possible to be while remaining Passeriformes. Advances in molecular biology and improved paleobiogeographical data gradually are revealing
1980-502: The corvoidean and basal songbirds. The modern diversity of Passerida genera is known mostly from the Late Miocene onward and into the Pliocene (about 10–2 mya). Pleistocene and early Holocene lagerstätten (<1.8 mya) yield numerous extant species, and many yield almost nothing but extant species or their chronospecies and paleosubspecies. In the Americas , the fossil record
2035-404: The families in the suborder Tyranni (suboscines) were all well determined but some of the nodes in Passeri (oscines or songbirds) were unclear owing to the rapid splitting of the lineages. Infraorder Eurylaimides : Old World suboscines Infraorder Tyrannides : New World suboscines Parvorder Furnariida Parvorder Tyrannida Relationships between living Passeriformes families based on
2090-430: The genus Melithreptus , it dwells in dry sclerophyll eucalypt woodland. Its diet consists of nectar from various flowers, and it also feeds on insects. The white-naped honeyeater was originally described as Certhia lunata by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1802. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin luna , meaning 'moon'; this refers to the crescent-shaped, white marking on its nape. It
2145-499: The long-billed wren. A mitochondrial DNA study in 2016 resolved much of the phylogeny, though the placement of Dendroscansor was unresolved due to lack of DNA testing due to the rarity of its remains. It was found that Xenicus was paraphyletic with respect to Pachyplichas , and that the stout legged wrens must have evolved from a gracile-legged ancestor, and the paper suggested placing the Pachyplichas species within Xenicus. It
2200-411: The male having bright green upperparts and the female being duller and browner. Both the New Zealand rock wren and the rifleman also show sexual dimorphism in size; unusually for passerines , the female is larger than the male. The female rifleman also exhibits other differences from the male, having a slightly more upturned bill than the male and a larger hind claw . The New Zealand wrens evolved in
2255-649: The material is too fragmentary and their affinities have been questioned. Several more recent fossils from the Oligocene of Europe, such as Wieslochia , Jamna , Resoviaornis , and Crosnoornis , are more complete and definitely represent early passeriforms, and have been found to belong to a variety of modern and extinct lineages. From the Bathans Formation at the Manuherikia River in Otago , New Zealand, MNZ S42815 (a distal right tarsometatarsus of
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2310-524: The mid-2000s, studies have investigated the phylogeny of the Passeriformes and found that many families from Australasia traditionally included in the Corvoidea actually represent more basal lineages within oscines. Likewise, the traditional three-superfamily arrangement within the Passeri has turned out to be far more complex and will require changes in classification. Major " wastebin " families such as
2365-540: The most part, are sedentary . Like many New Zealand birds, New Zealand wrens suffered several extinctions after the arrival of humans in New Zealand. Of the seven Holocene species, only two survive today. The South Island stout-legged wren , North Island stout-legged wren , and long-billed wren became extinct after the arrival of the Māori and the Polynesian rat . They are known to science only from subfossil remains. At
2420-509: The passerine host's egg. The vinous-throated parrotbill has two egg colors, white and blue, to deter the brood parasitic common cuckoo . Clutches vary considerably in size: some larger passerines of Australia such as lyrebirds and scrub-robins lay only a single egg, most smaller passerines in warmer climates lay between two and five, while in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, hole-nesting species like tits can lay up to
2475-1003: The phylogenetic analysis of Oliveros et al (2019). Some terminals have been renamed to reflect families recognised by the IOC but not in that study. The IOC families Alcippeidae and Teretistridae were not sampled in this study. Acanthisittidae (New Zealand wrens) Eurylaimidae (eurylaimid broadbills) Philepittidae (asites) Calyptomenidae (African and green broadbills) Pittidae (pittas) Sapayoidae (sapayoa) Melanopareiidae (crescent chests) Conopophagidae (gnateaters) Thamnophilidae (antbirds) Grallariidae (antpittas) Rhinocryptidae (tapaculos) Formicariidae (antthrushes) Scleruridae (leaftossers) Dendrocolaptidae (woodcreepers) Furnariidae (ovenbirds) Pipridae (manakins) Cotingidae (cotingas) Tityridae (tityras, becards) Acanthisitti † Traversia Acanthisitta Xenicus † Dendroscansor Fossil genus, see text The New Zealand wrens are
2530-497: The rarest fossil finds in New Zealand. After the wave of extinctions and range contractions caused by the arrival of mammals in New Zealand, the New Zealand wrens have a much reduced range. The New Zealand rock wren is now restricted to the South Island and is declining in numbers. The range of the rifleman initially contracted with the felling of forests for agriculture, but it has also expanded its range of habitats by moving into plantations of introduced exotic pines , principally
2585-615: The remaining species are poor fliers and four of the five extinct species are known or suspected to have been flightless. Along with the long-legged bunting from Tenerife , one of the Canary Islands , they are the only passerines known to have lost the ability to fly. Of the species for which the plumage is known, they are drab-coloured birds with brown-green plumage. They form monogamous pair bonds to raise their young, laying their eggs in small nests in trees or amongst rocks. They are diurnal and like all New Zealand passerines, are, for
2640-561: The rifleman and bushwren included southern beech forest and podocarp-broadleaf forest, with the range of the bushwren also including coastal forest and scrub, particularly the Stewart Island subspecies. Currently, the New Zealand rock wren is confined to alpine and subalpine zones (900–2500 m altitude) on the South Island. It is possible that the species was once present in the North Island, although this has never been proven. Lyall's wren
2695-503: The same time, Lyall's wren became extinct on the main islands and survived only as a relict population on Stephens Island in the Cook Strait . Lyall's wren and the bushwren became extinct after the arrival of Europeans in 1895 and 1972 respectively. Of the two remaining species, the rifleman is still common in both the North and South Islands. The New Zealand rock wren is restricted to
2750-509: The second and third toes are united at their basal third. The leg of passerine birds contains an additional special adaptation for perching. A tendon in the rear of the leg running from the underside of the toes to the muscle behind the tibiotarsus will automatically be pulled and tighten when the leg bends, causing the foot to curl and become stiff when the bird lands on a branch. This enables passerines to sleep while perching without falling off. Most passerine birds have 12 tail feathers but
2805-911: The southern continents in the early Eocene . The New Zealand wrens are the first to become isolated in Zealandia , and the second split involved the origin of the Tyranni in South America and the Passeri in the Australian continent . The Passeri experienced a great radiation of forms in Australia. A major branch of the Passeri, the parvorder Passerida , dispersed into Eurasia and Africa about 40 million years ago, where they experienced further radiation of new lineages. This eventually led to three major Passerida lineages comprising about 4,000 species, which in addition to
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#17331005509862860-569: The species as scurrying on the ground rather than flying. The New Zealand wrens are endemic and restricted to the main and offshore islands of New Zealand; they have not been found on any of the outer islands such as the Chatham Islands or the Kermadec Islands . Prior to the arrival of humans in New Zealand (about 1280 CE), they had a widespread distribution across both the North and South Islands and on Stewart Island/Rakiura . The range of
2915-411: The white-naped and black-headed honeyeaters . "White-naped honeyeater" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). A mid-sized honeyeater at 13–15 cm (5–6 in) in length, it is olive-green above and white below, with a black head, nape and throat, a red patch over the eye, and a white crescent-shaped patch on the nape. It
2970-551: Was also found that the split between Lyall's wren and other acanthisittids probably took place during the Oligocene, over 30 million years ago, so acanthisittids must have survived the Oligocene drowning . A cladogram is given below: † Lyall's wren , Traversia lyalli † Kuiornis indicator Rifleman , Acanthisitta chloris † Bushwren , Xenicus longipes New Zealand rockwren , Xenicus gilviventris † Pachyplichas – stout-legged wrens † Kuiornis indicator from
3025-486: Was once thought to have been restricted to the tiny Stephens Island in Cook Strait, but fossil evidence has shown the species was once widespread in both the North and South Islands. The stout-legged wren was similarly found on both islands, but fossils of the long-billed wren have only been found in the South Island. Fossils of the long-billed wren are far less common than those of the other species, in fact, its bones are
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