| Icterids | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Adult maleBullock's oriole | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Emberizoidea |
| Family: | Icteridae Vigors, 1825 |
| Type genus | |
| Icterus Brisson, 1760 | |
| Genera | |
30, See text | |
Icterids (/ˈɪktərɪd/) orNew World blackbirds make up a family, theIcteridae (/ɪkˈtɛrɪdi/), of small to medium-sized, often colorful,New Worldpasserine birds. The family contains 108 species and is divided into 30 genera. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The species in the family vary widely in size, shape, behavior, and coloration.
The name, meaning "jaundiced ones" (from the prominent yellow feathers of many species) comes from theAncient Greek:ἴκτερος -íkteros via theLatin:ictericus.
This group includes the New World blackbirds,New World orioles, thebobolink,meadowlarks,grackles,cowbirds,oropendolas, andcaciques.Despite the similar names, the first groups are only distantly related to the Old Worldcommon blackbird (athrush) or to theOld World orioles.The Icteridae are not to be confused with theIcteriidae, a family created in 2017 and consisting of one species — theyellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens).[1]
Most icterid species live in the tropics, although many species also occur in temperate regions, such as thered-winged blackbird and thelong-tailed meadowlark. The highest densities of breeding species are found inColombia and southernMexico.[2] They inhabit a range of habitats, including scrub, swamp, forest, and savanna.[3] Temperate species aremigratory, with many species that nest in the United States and Canada moving south into Mexico and Central America.
Icterids are variable in size, and often display considerablesexual dimorphism, with brighter coloration and greater size in males being typical. While such dimorphism is widely known in passerines, the sexual dimorphism by size is uniquely extreme in icterids. For example, the malegreat-tailed grackle is 60% heavier than the female. The smallest icterid species is theorchard oriole, in which the female averages 15 cm in length (6 in) and 18 g (0.040 lb) in weight, while the largest is theAmazonian oropendola, the male of which measures 52 cm (20 in) and weighs about 550 g (1.21 lb). This variation is greater than in any other passerine family (unless thekinglet calyptura belongs with thecotingas, which would then have greater variation[4]). One unusual morphological adaptation shared by the icterids is gaping, where the skull is configured to allow them to open theirbills strongly rather than passively, allowing them to force open gaps to obtain otherwise hidden food. Most icterids have rounded tails and lack rictal bristles. They have nine primary feathers[5] and are placed among thenine-primaried oscines.
Icterids have adapted to taking a wide range of foods. Oropendolas and caciques use their gaping motion to open the skins of fruit to obtain the soft insides, and have long bills adapted to the process. Others such as cowbirds and the bobolink have shorter, stubbierbills for crushing seeds. TheJamaican blackbird uses its bill to pry amongst tree bark andepiphytes, and has adopted the evolutionaryniche filled elsewhere in the Neotropics bywoodcreepers. Orioles drink nectar.
The nesting habits of these birds are also variable, including pendulous wovennests in the oropendolas and orioles. Many icterids arecolonial, nesting in colonies of up to 100,000 birds. Some cowbird species engage inbrood parasitism; females lay their eggs in the nests of other species, in a similar fashion to somecuckoos.[3]
Some species of icterid have become agriculturalpests; for example,red-winged blackbirds in the United States are considered the worst vertebrate pests on some crops, such asrice.[6] The cost of controlling blackbirds in California was $30 per acre in 1994. Not all species have been as successful, and a number of species are threatened with extinction. These include insular forms such as the Jamaican blackbird,yellow-shouldered blackbird, andSt Lucia oriole, all threatened by habitat loss; and thetricolored blackbird of California, which is threatened by habitat loss and destruction of nests.
Cacique and oropendola species are calledpaucar or similar names inPeru.[7][8] Aspaucares are considered very intelligent,Native Americans feed the brains to their children to make them fast learners.[9] As the male plays no part in nesting and care of the young, a man who does not work may be called a "malepaucar".[10]
The family group was introduced in 1825 as asubfamily Icterina by Irish zoologistNicholas Vigors. He placed the subfamily in the starling familySturnidae.[11]
A phylogenetic analysis of thepasserine families by Carl Oliveros and collaborators published in 2019 found that the family Icteridae wassister to the familyIcteriidae (containing theyellow breasted chat) and together these two families formed a clade that was sister to the New World warbler familyParulidae.[12]
| |||||||||||||
The genus levelcladogram shown below is based on amolecular phylogenetic study by Alexis Powell and collaborators that was published in 2014. The study comparedmitochondrial gene sequences.[13] Thesubfamilies are those that were proposed in 2016 by Van Remsen and collaborators.[14] The numbers of species are taken from the list maintained byFrank Gill,Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of theInternational Ornithological Committee (IOC).[15]
| Icteridae |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Image | Genus | Living Species |
|---|---|---|
.jpg) | XanthocephalusBonaparte, 1850 |
|
_-_Flickr_-_Andrea_Westmoreland.jpg) | DolichonyxSwainson, 1827 |
|
 | SturnellaVieillot, 1816 |
|
 | LeistesVigors, 1825 |
|
 | AmblycercusCabanis, 1851 |
|
_(8079400090).jpg) | CassiculusSwainson, 1827 |
|
.jpg) | PsarocoliusWagler, 1827 |
|
 | CacicusLacepede, 1799 |
|
 | IcterusBrisson, 1760 | |
 | NesopsarP.L. Sclater, 1859 |
|
 | AgelaiusVieillot, 1816 |
|
 | MolothrusSwainson, 1832 |
|
 | DivesCassin, 1867 |
|
 | PtiloxenaChapman, 1892 |
|
 | EuphagusCassin, 1867 |
|
 | QuiscalusVieillot, 1816 |
|
.jpg) | HypopyrrhusBonaparte, 1850 |
|
| LampropsarCabanis, 1847 |
| |
 | GymnomystaxReichenbach, 1850 |
|
_(8079736640).jpg) | MacroagelaiusCassin, 1866 |
|
 | CuraeusPL Sclater, 1862 |
|
.jpg) | AmblyramphusLeach, 1814 |
|
 | AnumaraPowell et al., 2014 |
|
 | GnorimopsarRichmond, 1908 |
|
| OreopsarWL Sclater, 1939 |
| |
 | AgelaioidesCassin, 1866 |
|
 | AgelasticusCabanis, 1851 |
|
_(8)_(14420579547).jpg) | ChrysomusSwainson, 1837 |
|
 | XanthopsarRidgway, 1901 |
|
2.jpg) | PseudoleistesP.L. Sclater, 1862 |
|
Prehistoric icterid genera that have been described fromPleistocenefossil remains arePandanaris fromRancho La Brea andPyelorhamphus fromShelter Cave.
