Discovery of a relict lineage and monotypic family of passerine birds

Abstract

Analysis of one of the most comprehensive datasets to date of the largest passerine bird clade, Passerida, identified 10 primary well-supported lineages corresponding to Sylvioidea, Muscicapoidea, Certhioidea, Passeroidea, the 'bombycillids' (here proposed to be recognized as Bombycilloidea), Paridae/Remizidae (proposed to be recognized as Paroidea), Stenostiridae, Hyliotidae, Regulidae (proposed to be recognized as Reguloidea) and spotted wren-babbler Spelaeornis formosus. The latter was found on a single branch in a strongly supported clade with Muscicapoidea, Certhioidea and Bombycilloidea, although the relationships among these were unresolved. We conclude that the spotted wren-babbler represents a relict basal lineage within Passerida with no close extant relatives, and we support the already used name Elachura formosa and propose the new family name Elachuridae for this single species.

Keywords

Elachura formosa; old species; Passerida; Spelaeornis formosus; systematics

Published in

Biology Letters
2014, volume: 10, number: 3, article number: 20131067
Publisher: ROYAL SOC

SLU Authors

• Alström, Per

  • SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Genetics and Genomics
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (Methods development to be 10203)
Biological Systematics

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0782

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/59485