Phaenicophilidae

Hispaniolan tanagers
Black-crowned tanager (Phaenicophilus palmarum)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Superfamily:	Emberizoidea
Family:	Phaenicophilidae P.L. Sclater, 1886 [1]
Type genus
Phaenicophilus
Genera
Microligea Xenoligea Phaenicophilus
Range of the Phaenicophilidae (Hispaniola and adjacent islands)

Phaenicophilidae are a family of passerine birds endemic to the island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and adjacent islands. The family contains four species in three genera. These species were historically classified within the families Thraupidae (tanagers) and Parulidae (New World warblers), ^[2] but genetic studies have confirmed they form a distinct clade.

Taxonomy

The family was originally established to classify the genus Phaenicophilus . It was reinstated when molecular genetic studies revealed that various species traditionally classified in Thraupidae (including the two Phaenicophilus species) and some from Parulidae were not as closely related to the members of those families as they were to each other. This led to the inclusion of the genera Microligea and Xenoligea into Phaenicophilidae. The closest relatives to this family are the Icteridae (New World blackbirds) and Parulidae (New World warblers). ^{[3] [4]}

Several other groups of Caribbean tanagers—specifically the genera Nesospingus , Spindalis , and Calyptophilus —were previously included in this group or tentatively associated with it. However, the analyses by Barker et al. (2013, 2015) suggested these lineages are sufficiently divergent to warrant their own monotypic families: Nesospingidae, Spindalidae, and Calyptophilidae, respectively. These taxa are likely closely related to one another but appear to have diverged in the distant past. ^[5]

These taxonomic changes have been adopted by the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) ^[6] and the Clements Checklist. ^[7]

Species

The family consists of three genera and four species:

Image	Genus	Species
	Microligea Cory, 1884	Green-tailed warbler (Microligea palustris)
	Xenoligea Bond, 1967	White-winged warbler (Xenoligea montana)
	Phaenicophilus Strickland, 1851	Black-crowned tanager (Phaenicophilus palmarum) Grey-crowned tanager (Phaenicophilus poliocephalus)

References

1. Sclater, P.L. (1886). "Catalogue of the Passeriformes, or perching birds. Fringilliformes: Part II. Containing the families Coerebidae, Tanagridae, and Icteridae". Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum. Vol. 11: xvii + 494. London: Taylor & Francis. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.8233.
2. Winkler, David W.; Billerman, Shawn M.; Lovette, Irby J. (2015). "Phaenicophilidae (Hispaniolan tanagers)". Bird families of the world: an invitation to the spectacular diversity of birds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. pp. 545–546. ISBN   9788494189203.
3. Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2013). "Going to extremes: Contrasting rates of diversification in a recent radiation of New World passerine birds". Systematic Biology. 62 (2): 298–320. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/sys094 . ISSN   1063-5157. PMID   23229025.
4. Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2015). "New insights into New World biogeography: An integrated view from the phylogeny of blackbirds, cardinals, sparrows, tanagers, warblers, and allies". The Auk. 132 (2): 333–348. doi: 10.1642/AUK-14-110.1 . ISSN   0004-8038.
5. "Phaenicophilidae". Handbook of the Birds of the World - Alive. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
6. "Enigmatic Oscines". IOC World Bird List Version 8.2. International Ornithologists' Union. 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
7. Clements, J; Schulenberg, T; Iliff, M; Roberson, D; Fredericks, T; Sullivan, B; Wood, C (2018). "The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018". The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 19 February 2019.