| Babblers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pin-striped tit-babbler, (Mixornis gularis) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Sylvioidea |
| Family: | Timaliidae Vigors &Horsfield, 1827 |
| Genera | |
See article text | |
TheOld World babblers orTimaliidae, are afamily of mostlyOld Worldpasserine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft, fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety inSoutheast Asia and theIndian subcontinent. The timaliids are one of two unrelated groups of birds known as babblers, the other being theAustralasian babblers of the family Pomatostomidae (also known as pseudo-babblers).
Morphological diversity is rather high; most species resemble "warblers",jays orthrushes. This group is among those Old World bird families with the highest number of speciesstill being discovered.
Timaliids are small to medium birds. They have strong legs, and many are quite terrestrial. They typically have generalised bills, similar to those of athrush orwarbler, except for thescimitar babblers which, as their name implies, have strongly decurved bills. Most have predominantly brown plumage, with minimal difference between the sexes, but many more brightly coloured species also exist.[1]
This group is not stronglymigratory, and mostspecies have short rounded wings, and a weak flight. They live in lightly wooded or scrubland environments, ranging from swamp to near-desert. They are primarilyinsectivorous, although many will also take berries, and the larger species will even eat small lizards and other vertebrates.[1]
Typical babblers live in communities of around a dozen birds, jointly defending a territory. Many even breed communally, with a dominant pair building a nest, and the remainder helping to defend and rear their young. Young males remain with the group, while females move away to find a new group, and thus avoid inbreeding. They make nests from twigs, and hide them in dense vegetation.[1]
The systematics of Old World babblers have long been contested. During much of the 20th century, the family was used as a "wastebin taxon" for numerous hard-to-place Old World songbirds (such asPicathartidae andPnoepygidae, as well as the New World species thewrentit). The German ornithologistErnst Hartert summarized this attitude with the statement that, in the passerines: "Was man nicht unterbringen kann, sieht man als Timalien an." (What one can't place systematically is considered an Old World babbler).[2]
The most obviously misplacedtaxa were removed piecemeal towards the end of the last century. Since then, with the aid ofDNA sequence data, it has been confirmed that even the remaining group is notmonophyletic. Analysis ofmtDNAcytochromeb and12S/16S rRNA data (Cibois 2003a) spread the Timaliidae that were studied across what essentially was a badly resolvedpolytomy withOld World warblers andwhite-eyes. As the typical warblers (genusSylvia) grouped with some presumed timaliids (such as thefulvettas), it was suggested that some Sylviidae should be moved to the Timaliidae.
The phylogenetic relationships between Timaliidae and other families was determined in amolecular phylogenetic study by Tianlong Cai and collaborators that was published in 2019. It is shown in the cladogram below:[3][4]
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The cladogram below shows the relationships between the genera. These were determined in the same study by Cai and collaborators.[3][4]
| Timaliidae |
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The family as currently constituted includes 58 species divided into the following ten genera:[4]
| Image | Genus | Living species |
|---|---|---|
 | ErythrogenysBaker, 1930 – scimitar-babblers |
|
 | PomatorhinusHorsfield, 1821 – scimitar-babblers |
|
.jpg) | SpelaeornisDavid & Oustalet, 1877 – typical wren-babblers |
|
 | StachyrisHodgson, 1844 |
|
.jpg) | CyanodermaSalvadori, 1874[5] |
|
.jpg) | DumetiaBlyth, 1852 |
|
.jpg) | MixornisBlyth, 1842 – tit-babblers |
|
 | MacronusJardine & Selby, 1835 – tit-babblers |
|
.jpg) | TimaliaHorsfield, 1821 |
|
 | MelanocichlaSharpe, 1883 |
|
