Pachycephalidae

Taxobox
name = Pachycephalidae

---

image_caption = Rufous Whistler
image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
subordo = Passeri
familia = Pachycephalidae
familia_authority = Swainson, 1831
subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
subdivision =
*Falcunculinae
*Pachycephalinae

The family Pachycephalidae includes the whistlers, shrike-thrushes, shrike-tits, pitohuis and Crested Bellbird, and is part of the ancient Australo-Papuan radiation of songbirds. Its members range from small to medium in size, and occupy most of Australasia: Australia in particular, but also New Guinea, New Zealand, and in the case of the whistlers, the South Pacific islands and parts of Indonesia.

They are stout birds with strong bills. Their plumage is rufous, brown, or grey in the majority of species. They are insectivorous, picking insects off leaves, branches, or leaf litter. Only a few species migrate, most remaining resident in their tropical environment.cite book |editor=Forshaw, Joseph|author= Garnett, Stephen|year=1991|title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds|publisher= Merehurst Press|location=London|pages= 201|isbn= 1-85391-186-0]

Several species belonging to this family are outstanding songsters: the whistlers produce an astonishing volume for their size, and the lyrebirds aside, the Grey Shrike-thrush is often regarded as the finest, most inventive songbird of them all.fact|date=June 2008

Systematics

FAMILY: PACHYCEPHALIDAE
* Subfamily: Falcunculinae
** Genus: "Mohoua"
*** Whitehead, "Mohoua albicilla"
*** Yellowhead, "Mohoua ochrocephala"
*** Brown Creeper or Pipipi, "Mohoua novaeseelandiae"
** Genus: "Falcunculus"
*** Crested Shrike-tit, "Falcunculus frontatus"
** Genus: "Oreoica"
*** Crested Bellbird, "Oreoica gutturalis"
** Genus: "Rhagologus"
*** Mottled Whistler, "Rhagologus leucostigma"
* Subfamily: Pachycephalinae
** Genus: "Pachycare" - Dwarf Whistler
** Genus: "Hylocitrea" - Olive-flanked Whistler
** Genus: "Coracornis" - Maroon-backed Whistler
** Genus: "Aleadryas" - Rufous-naped Whistler
** Genus: "Pachycephala" - typical whistlers (more than 30 species)
** Genus: "Colluricincla" - shrike-thrushes (7 species)
** Genus: "Pitohui" - pitohuis (6 species)
** Genus: "Eulacestoma" - Wattled Ploughbill

References

* Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). "Handbook of the Birds of the World". Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 9788496553422

External links

* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/familia.phtml?idFamilia=146 Pachycephalidae videos] on the Internet Bird Collection