Grallina is a genus of passerine bird native to Australia and New Guinea. It is a member of a group of birds termed monarch flycatchers.

Grallina
Male magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Monarchidae
Genus: Grallina
Vieillot, 1816
Type species
Grallina melanoleuca[1]
Vieillot, 1816
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • Tanypus

Taxonomy

edit

Higher taxonomy

edit

Long thought to be a member of the mudnest builder family Corcoracidae, the magpie-lark and torrent lark have been reclassified in the family Monarchidae (the monarch flycatchers). The two make up a lineage that split off early from other monarchs and has no close relatives within the family.[2]

The monarch flycatchers are considered either as a subfamily Monarchinae, together with the fantails as part of the drongo family Dicruridae,[3] or as a family Monarchidae in its own right.[4] More broadly, they belong to the Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, fairy-wrens and honeyeaters as well as crows.[5]

Species

edit

Two species are recognized:[6]

Image Scientific name Common Name Distribution
  Grallina cyanoleuca Magpie-lark Australia, Timor, and southern New Guinea
  Grallina bruijnii Torrent-lark New Guinea

References

edit
  1. ^ "Monarchidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ Andersen, M.J.; Hosner, P.A.; Filardi, C.E.; Moyle, R.G. (2015). "Phylogeny of the monarch flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly and novel relationships within a major Australo-Pacific radiation". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 83: 118–36. Bibcode:2015MolPE..83..118A. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.11.010. PMID 25463752.
  3. ^ Christidis L, Boles WE (1994). The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Melbourne: RAOU.
  4. ^ Christidis L, Boles WE (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Canberra: CSIRO Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6.
  5. ^ Sibley, Charles Gald & Ahlquist, Jon Edward (1990): Phylogeny and classification of birds. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
  6. ^ "IOC World Bird List 6.4". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4.