Stenostiridae

Taxobox
name = Stenostiridae

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
subordo = Passeri
familia =Stenostiridae
familia_authority = Beresford, F.K. Barker, Ryan & Crowe, 2005

Stenostiridae is a family of small passerine birds proposed as a result of recent discoveries in molecular systematics (Beresford "et al." 2005). They are commonly referred to as stenostirid warblers.

This new clade is named after the Fairy Warbler, a distinct species placed formerly in the Old World flycatchers. This is united with the "sylvioid flycatchers": the genus "Elminia" (formerly placed in the Monarchinae) and the closely allied former Old World flycatcher genus "Culicicapa". (Beresford "et al." 2005, Fuchs "et al." 2006)

Its genera and species are:

* Genus "Stenostira" – Fairy "Warbler" or Fairy "Flycatcher"

* Genus "Elminia" – includes "Trochocercus"
**African Blue Flycatcher, "Elminia longicauda"
**White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, "Elminia albicauda"
**Dusky Crested-flycatcher, "Elminia nigromitrata"
**White-bellied Crested-flycatcher, "Elminia albiventris"
**White-tailed Crested-flycatcher, "Elminia albonotata"

* Genus "Culicicapa"
** Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher, "Culicicapa ceylonensis"
** Citrine Canary-flycatcher, "Culicicapa helianthea"

Other African or Asian species might conceivably fall into this novel clade. The tit-flycatchers ("Myioparus") are apparently true flycatchers morphologically somewhat convergent to "Stenostira" (Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006).The Stenostiridae as a whole are related to penduline tits, titmice and chickadees. All these appear to be closer to the Sylvioidea than to other Passerida, but this is not robustly supported by the available data and they might constitute a distinct, more basal superfamily.(Alström "et al." 2006, Beresford "et al." 2005, Barker "et al." 2004)

References

* Alström, Per; Ericson, Per G.P.; Olsson, Urban & Sundberg, Per (2006): Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea. "Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution" 38(2): 381–397. doi|10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.015

* Barker, F. Keith; Cibois, Alice; Schikler, Peter A.; Feinstein, Julie & Cracraft, Joel (2004): Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation. "PNAS" 101(30): 11040–11045. doi|10.1073/pnas.0401892101 [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0401892101v1.pdf PDF fulltext] [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0401892101/DC1 Supporting information]

* Beresford, P.; Barker, F.K.; Ryan, P.G. & Crowe, T.M. (2005): African endemics span the tree of songbirds (Passeri): molecular systematics of several evolutionary 'enigmas'. "Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B" 272(1565): 849–858. DOI|10.1098/rspb.2004.2997 [http://www.tc.umn.edu/~barke042/pdfs/Beresford.et.al05.pdf PDF fulltext] [http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/public/contributionsupplementalmaterials/h/y/b/7/hyb7fme16147k0d3/archive1.pdf Electronic appendix]

* Fuchs, J.; Fjeldså, J.; Bowie, R. C. K.; Voelker, G. & Pasquet, E. (2006): The African warbler genus "Hyliota" as a lost lineage in the oscine songbird tree: Molecular support for an African origin of the Passerida. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(1): 186–197. doi|10.1016/j.ympev.2005.07.020 (HTML fulltext)

* Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). "Zool. Scripta" 35(2): 149–186. doi|:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00221.x (HTML abstract)