| Mimids | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Long-billed thrasher Toxostoma longirostre | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Muscicapoidea |
| Family: | Mimidae Bonaparte, 1853 |
| Genera | |
Allenia | |
Themimids are theNew World family ofpasserine birds,Mimidae, that includesthrashers,mockingbirds,tremblers, and theNew World catbirds. As their name (Latin for "mimic") suggests, thesebirds are notable for their vocalization, especially some species' remarkable ability to mimic a wide variety of birds and other sounds heard outdoors. They are commonly referred to asmimic thrushes but are not, in fact, thrushes (which are members of familyTurdidae).[1]
There are over 30species of mimids in two larger and some ten small ormonotypicgenera. They tend toward dull grays and browns in their appearance, though a few are black or blue-gray, and many have red, yellow, or whiteirises. They range from 20 to 33 centimetres in length, and 36 to 56 grams in weight.[2] Many mimids have a ratherthrush-like pattern: brown above, pale with dark streaks or spots below. They tend to have longer tails than thrushes (or the biggerwrens, which they also resemble) and longer bills that in many species curve downward.[3]
They have long, strong legs (for passerines) with which many species hop through undergrowth searching forarthropods and fruits to eat. Their habitat varies from forest undergrowth to scrub, high-altitude grasslands, and deserts. The twotremblers live in the atypical habitat ofrainforests in theLesser Antilles, and thebrown trembler has the particularly atypical behavior of foraging while clinging to tree trunks.[3]
All known species build somewhat messy, bulky twig nests in dense growth, which are in most species on the ground or no more than 2 meters up. They usually lay 2 to 5 eggs that hatch in 12 or 13 days, which is also the length of time the chicks stay in the nest. Breeding usually starts in the spring or early in the rainy season, and many species can have two or even three broods per year. Most failures to fledge young are due to predation. Pairs often stay together for more than one breeding season.[3]
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Contrary to often-held belief, theNesomimus mockingbirds may have played at least as great a role asDarwin's finches in inspiringDarwin's work on his theory of evolution.[4]
Phylogenetic analyses have shown that mimids are most closely related tostarlings.[5][6] These andoxpeckers (and thePhilippine creepers if they are not outright but highlyapomorphic starlings) form a group ofMuscicapoidea which originated probably in theEarly Miocene – very roughly 25–20mya[7] – somewhere inEast Asia.[6] This is evidenced by the Asian-SW Pacific distribution of the mostbasal starlings (and Philippine creepers) and the North American range of the basal mimids.
They are sometimes united with the starlings in the Sturnidae as atribeMimini as proposed by Sibley & Monroe (1990).[5] This makes the expanded Sturnidae a rather noninformative group and is probably due to the methodological drawbacks of theirDNA-DNA hybridization technique.
The mockingbirds with some thrashers seem to form one majorclade, while the two other groups and the remaining thrashers seem to form another, but thebasal branching pattern is not well resolved. The tremblers, again, are amonophyletic lineage. The latter, however, are embedded in aparaphyletic catbird-Caribbean thrasher assemblage which consists of many rather basal lineages.[8][9]
For detailed information on theevolutionary relationships of the different mimid lineages, see their articles.
