Madagascan warblers | |
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The long-billed bernieria (Bernieria madagascariensis) was formerly placed in the Pycnonotidae | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Superfamily: | Sylvioidea |
Family: |
Bernieridae Cibois, David, Gregory & Pasquet, 2010 [1] |
Genera | |
see text |
The tetrakas and allies are a newly validated family of songbirds. They were formally named Bernieridae in 2010. The family currently consists of eleven species (in eight genera) of small forest birds. These birds are all endemic to Madagascar.
In 1934, the monophyly of this group was proposed by Finn Salomonsen but the traditional assignments of these birds were maintained, mistaken by their convergent evolution and the lack of dedicated research. The families to which the Malagasy warblers were formerly assigned—Pycnonotidae ( bulbuls) and even more so Timaliidae ( Old World babblers) and the Old World warbler—were used as " wastebin taxa", uniting unrelated lineages that were somewhat similar ecologically and morphologically.
It was not until the analysis of mtDNA cytochrome b and 16S rRNA [2] [3] as well as nDNA RAG-1 and RAG-2 exon sequence data, [4] that the long-proposed grouping was accepted. [5]
The family contains 11 species divided into 8 genera. [5]
Image | Genus | Species |
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Oxylabes Sharpe, 1870 |
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Bernieria Pucheran, 1855 |
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Cryptosylvicola Goodman, Langrand & Whitney, 1996 |
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Hartertula Stresemann, 1925 |
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Thamnornis Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1882 |
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Xanthomixis Sharpe, 1881 |
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Crossleyia Hartlaub, 1877 |
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Randia Delacour & Berlioz, 1931 |
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Several of these species are very poorly known and were described by science only very recently.
Appert's tetraka was only described in 1972 and the
cryptic warbler in 1996. The Appert's tetraka, along with the
dusky tetraka are threatened by habitat loss, and are listed as
vulnerable.
Most members of this family live in the humid rainforests in the east of Madagascar, though a few species are found in the drier southwest of the island. They feed on insects and will form mixed-species feeding flocks of up to six species while foraging.