Family of birds
Themesites (Mesitornithidae ) are afamily ofbirds that are part of aclade (Columbimorphae ) that includeColumbiformes andPterocliformes .[ 1] flightless or near flightless birds endemic toMadagascar . All the species of this clade are listed asvulnerable .
The mesites areforest andscrubland birds thatfeed on insects andseeds ; brown and white-breasted mesitesforage on the ground, gleaning insects from underneathleaves as well as low vegetation. The subdesert mesite uses its long bill to probe in the soil. Other birds, such asdrongos andflycatchers , will follow mesites to catch any insects they flush out or miss. Mesites are vocal birds, withcalls similar to that of apasserine 's song, which are used forterritorial defence. Two or three white eggs are laid in a stick-built nest located in a bush or on a low branch.[ 2] Mesitornis species aremonogamous [ 3] Monias benschi ispolygamous and, unlike the other two, shows significantsexual dichromatism .
There are two genera,Mesitornis (2 species) andMonias (subdesert mesite).[ 4] [ 5]
Image Genus Species Monias Oustalet & Grandidier, 1903 Mesitornis Bonaparte, 1855 [Mesites Geoffroy, 1838 non Schoenherr, 1838 ;Mesoenas Reichenbach, 1861 ]
Historically, mesites'phylogenetic relationships were not very clear; they have been allied (claded ) with theGruiformes ,[ 6] Turniciformes [ 7] Columbiformes .[ 8]
Some phylogenomic studies supportPterocliformes (sandgrouse) as the sister group of mesites[ 1] [ 9] [ 10] clade with another clade constituted of Columbiformes andCuculiformes (cuckoos).[ 11]
Phylogenetic relationship of the mesites withinNeoaves according to Stiller and colleagues (2024).[ 12]
^a b Jarvis, E.D.; et al. (2014)."Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds" .Science .346 (6215):1320– 1331.Bibcode :2014Sci...346.1320J .doi :10.1126/science.1253451 .PMC 4405904 PMID 25504713 . ^ Archibald, George W. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph (ed.).Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds . London: Merehurst Press. pp. 100– 101.ISBN 978-1-85391-186-6 ^ Gamero, Anna; Székely, Tamás; Kappeler, Peter M. (2014)."Delayed juvenile dispersal and monogamy, but no cooperative breeding in white-breasted mesites (Mesitornis variegatus)" Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology .68 :73– 83.doi :10.1007/s00265-013-1624-4 .S2CID 17145658 . ^ IOC World Bird List v6.3[1] ."IOC Names File Plus 6.3 " . Retrieved30 August 2016 .^ "Part 7- Vertebrates" .Collection of genus-group names in a systematic arrangement . Archived fromthe original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved30 June 2016 .^ Sibley, Charles ;Jon Edward Ahlquist (1990).Phylogeny and classification of birds . New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN 0-300-04085-7 ^ Livezey, Bradley C.; Zusi, RL (January 2007)."Higher-order phylogeny of modern birds (Theropoda, Aves: Neornithes) based on comparative anatomy. II. Analysis and discussion" .Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149 (1):1– 95.doi :10.1111/j.1096-3642.2006.00293.x .PMC 2517308 PMID 18784798 . ^ Hackett, Shannon J.; Kimball, Rebecca T.; Reddy, Sushma; Bowie, Rauri C. K.; Braun, Edward L.; Braun, Michael J.; Chojnowski, Jena L.; Cox, W. Andrew; Han, Kin-Lan; Harshman, John; Huddleston, Christopher J.; Marks, Ben D.; Miglia, Kathleen J.; Moore, William S.; Sheldon, Frederick H.; Steadman, David W.; Witt, Christopher C.; Yuri, Tamaki (2008)."A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History" Science .320 (5884):1763– 1768.Bibcode :2008Sci...320.1763H .doi :10.1126/science.1157704 .PMID 18583609 .S2CID 6472805 . ^ Fain, Matthew G.; Houde, Peter (2004). "Parallel radiations in the primary clades of birds".Evolution 58 (11):2558– 2573.doi :10.1554/04-235 .PMID 15612298 .S2CID 1296408 . ^ Yuri, T.; et al. (2013)."Parsimony and Model-Based Analyses of Indels in Avian Nuclear Genes Reveal Congruent and Incongruent Phylogenetic Signals" .Biology .2 (1):419– 444.doi :10.3390/biology2010419 PMC 4009869 PMID 24832669 . ^ H Kuhl, C Frankl-Vilches, A Bakker, G Mayr, G Nikolaus, S T Boerno, S Klages, B Timmermann, M Gahr (2020)An unbiased molecular approach using 3’UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life .Molecular Biology and Evolution ,https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa191 ^ Stiller, J.; Feng, S.; Chowdhury, A-A.; et al. (2024)."Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes" .Nature .629 (8013):851– 860.Bibcode :2024Natur.629..851S .doi :10.1038/s41586-024-07323-1 PMC 11111414 PMID 38560995 .
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