| Micromacronus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Cisticolidae |
| Genus: | Micromacronus Amadon, 1962 |
| Type species | |
| Micromacronus leytensis[1] Amadon, 1962 | |
| Species | |
Micromacronus is abirdgenus in thefamilyCisticolidaeendemic to thePhilippines. Long considered to bemonotypic, its members are known asminiature babblers orminiature tit-babblers. As thescientific as well as the common names indicate, theirhabitus resembles a diminutive version of thetit-babblers (Macronus). The genus was only described in 1962, upon the description of the first species, which had been collected by collector Manuel Celestino and Godofredo Alcasid, a zoologist at the Philippine National Museum.[2] The genus was formerly placed in the familyTimaliidae but amolecular phylogenetic study published in 2012 found that the genus was more closely related to species in the family Cisticolidae.[3][4]
The genus contains just twospecies; theVisayan miniature babbler,Micromacronus leytensis, and theMindanao miniature babbler,Micromacronus sordidus. The two species in the genus have sometimes been treated as a single species. The Visayan miniature babbler is found on the islands ofSamar,Leyte andBiliran in the central Philippines, whereas the Mindanao miniature babbler is restricted toMindanao only.