Bernieridae

The tetrakas and allies are a newly validated family of songbirds. They were formally named Bernieridae in 2010. The family currently consists of eleven species (in eight genera) of small forest birds. These birds are all endemic to Madagascar.

Madagascan warblers
The long-billed bernieria (Bernieria madagascariensis) was formerly placed in the Pycnonotidae
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Superfamily:	Sylvioidea
Family:	Bernieridae Cibois, David, Gregory & Pasquet, 2010
Genera
see text

In 1934, the monophyly of this group was proposed by Finn Salomonsen but the traditional assignments of these birds were maintained, mistaken by their convergent evolution and the lack of dedicated research. The families to which the Malagasy warblers were formerly assigned—Pycnonotidae (bulbuls) and even more so Timaliidae (Old World babblers) and the Old World warbler—were used as "wastebin taxa", uniting unrelated lineages that were somewhat similar ecologically and morphologically.

It was not until the analysis of mtDNA cytochrome b and 16S rRNA as well as nDNA RAG-1 and RAG-2 exon sequence data, that the long-proposed grouping was accepted.

Taxonomy and systematics

The family contains 11 species divided into 8 genera.

Image	Genus	Species
	Oxylabes Sharpe, 1870	Oxylabes madagascariensis – White-throated oxylabes
	Bernieria Pucheran, 1855	Bernieria madagascariensis – Long-billed bernieria
	Cryptosylvicola Goodman, Langrand & Whitney, 1996	Cryptosylvicola randrianasoloi – Cryptic warbler
	Hartertula Stresemann, 1925	Hartertula flavoviridis – Wedge-tailed jery
	Thamnornis Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1882	Thamnornis chloropetoides – Thamnornis
	Xanthomixis Sharpe, 1881	Appert's tetraka, Xanthomixis apperti Grey-crowned tetraka, Xanthomixis cinereiceps Dusky tetraka, Xanthomixis tenebrosa Spectacled tetraka, Xanthomixis zosterops
	Crossleyia Hartlaub, 1877	Crossleyia xanthophrys – Madagascan yellowbrow
	Randia Delacour & Berlioz, 1931	Randia pseudozosterops – Rand's warbler

Several of these species are very poorly known and were described by science only very recently. Appert's tetraka was only described in 1972 and the cryptic warbler in 1996. The Appert's tetraka, along with the dusky tetraka are threatened by habitat loss, and are listed as vulnerable.

Most members of this family live in the humid rainforests in the east of Madagascar, though a few species are found in the drier southwest of the island. They feed on insects and will form mixed-species feeding flocks of up to six species while foraging.

Further reading

• Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-96553-06-X.
• Roberson, Don (2006): The break-up of the Old World warblers: A discussion of the 'new' tree Archived 2009-02-20 at the Wayback Machine. Version of 2006-06-26. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
• Salomonsen, F. (1934): Revision of the Madagascar Timaliine birds. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (10th series) 14: 60–79.