Hyliota

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Hyliota
Violet-backed Hyliota - Ghana S4E2360 (19301573301).jpg
Violet-backed hyliota (Hyliota violacea)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hyliotidae
Genus: Hyliota
Swainson, 1837
Type species
Hyliota flavigaster [1]
Swainson, 1837

The hyliotas are a genus, Hyliota, of passerine bird from Africa. The taxonomic position of the genus has been a longstanding mystery. They have been formerly regarded as Old World warblers in the family Sylviidae, or related to the batises and wattle-eyes in the family Platysteiridae, bush-shrikes in the family Malaconotidae, or even Old-World flycatchers in the family Muscicapidae. An analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of the genus and possible relatives found they have no close relatives and are basal in the clade Passerida. They are now often regarded as a family in their own right, Hyliotidae. [2]

The hyliotas are found in the canopy of broad-leaf forests. They usually do not live in groups but will join mixed-species feeding flocks with other species. They are territorial and pairs are monogamous, nesting in camouflaged woven nests.

Species

Hyliota contains the following species:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passerine</span> Any bird of the order Passeriformes, sometimes known as perching birds

A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes, which facilitates perching.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Songbird</span> Suborder of birds

A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,000 or so species found all over the world, in which the vocal organ typically is developed in such a way as to produce a diverse and elaborate bird song.

Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into Cisticolidae and the kinglets into Regulidae. In the past ten years they have been the subject of much research and many species are now placed into other families, including the Acrocephalidae, Cettiidae, Phylloscopidae, and Megaluridae. In addition some species have been moved into existing families or have not yet had their placement fully resolved. A smaller number of warblers, together with some babblers formerly placed in the family Timaliidae and the parrotbills, are retained in a much smaller family Sylviidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylviidae</span> Family of birds

Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that includes the typical warblers and a number of babblers formerly placed within the Old World babbler family. They are found in Eurasia and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grass warbler</span> Genus of birds

The grass warblers are small passerine birds belonging to the genus Locustella. Formerly placed in the paraphyletic "Old World warbler" assemblage, they are now considered the northernmost representatives of a largely Gondwanan family, the Locustellidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cisticolidae</span> Family of birds

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.

<i>Acrocephalus</i> (bird) Genus of birds

The Acrocephalus warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus Acrocephalus. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are sometimes called marsh warblers or reed warblers, but this invites confusion with marsh warbler and reed warbler proper, especially in North America, where it is common to use lower case for bird species.

<i>Cettia</i> Genus of birds

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern olivaceous warbler</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amani Nature Reserve</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passerida</span> Clade of birds

Passerida is, under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two parvorders contained within the suborder Passeri. While more recent research suggests that its sister parvorder, Corvida, is not a monophyletic grouping, the Passerida as a distinct clade are widely accepted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairy flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The fairy flycatcher or fairy warbler is a small passerine bird. Formerly placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae, it is now separated with some other "odd flycatchers" as the new family Stenostiridae. It is the only member of the genus Stenostira.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locustellidae</span> Family of birds

Locustellidae is a newly recognized family of small insectivorous songbirds ("warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" family. It contains the grass warblers, grassbirds, and the Bradypterus "bush warblers". These birds occur mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. The family name is sometimes given as Megaluridae, but Locustellidae has priority.

The long-billed forest warbler, also known as the long-billed tailorbird, is a songbird of the family Cisticolidae, formerly part of the "Old World warbler" assemblage. It is found in Tanzania and Mozambique. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat destruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvioidea</span> Superfamily of birds

Sylvioidea is a superfamily of passerine birds, one of at least three major clades within the Passerida along with the Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. It contains about 1300 species including the Old World warblers, Old World babblers, swallows, larks and bulbuls. Members of the clade are found worldwide, but fewer species are present in the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macrosphenidae</span> Family of birds

The African warblers are a newly erected family Macrosphenidae, of African songbirds. Most of the species were formerly placed in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, although one species, the rockrunner, was placed in the babbler family, Timaliidae. A series of molecular studies of the Old World warblers and other bird families in the superfamily Sylvioidea found that the African warblers were not part of Sylviidae but were instead an early (basal) offshoot of the entire clade Sylvioidea. Some taxonomic authorities place the entire family Hyliidae here.

<i>Horornis</i> Genus of birds

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References

  1. "Hyliotidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. Fuchs, Jérôme; et al. (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. PMID   16182572.