Tyranni

Tyranni
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Tyranni
Infraorders
Eurylaimides Tyrannides (but see text)

The suborder of passerine birds Tyranni (the suboscines) includes about 1,000 species, the large majority of which are South American.

These have a different anatomy of the syrinx musculature than the songbirds in the suborder Passeri, the oscine passerines. The available morphological, mt and nDNA sequence, and biogeographical data, as well as the (scant) fossil record, agrees that the Tyranni and Passeri suborders are evolutionarily distinct clades.

Systematics

According to Sibley and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridization studies^[1] the Tyranni can be divided into three suborders: Acanthisittides, Eurylaimides, and Tyrannides. The first, containing the Acanthisittidae (New Zealand "wrens"), is of disputed position. Current opinion is that they are more likely a very distinct and ancient lineage, and constitute a suborder on their own.

The Eurylaimides contain the Old World suboscines - mainly distributed in tropical regions around the Indian Ocean - and a single American species, the Broad-billed Sapayoa:

• Eurylaimidae: broadbills
• Philepittidae: asities
• Sapayoidae: Broad-billed Sapayoa

• Pittidae: pittas

The former three are usually placed into a distinct superfamily from the pittas. More recently, as passeriform relationships become better resolved, there is an increasing trend to elevate the Eurylaimides to suborder rank.

The Tyrannides contain the all suboscines from the Americas, except the Broad-billed Sapayoa:

• Furnariidae: ovenbirds and woodcreepers
• Thamnophilidae: antbirds
• Formicariidae: antpittas and antthrushes, probably including most tapaculos
• Rhinocryptidae: tapaculos
• Conopophagidae: gnateaters and gnatpittas

• Tyrannidae: tyrant-flycatchers
• Cotingidae: cotingas and Sharpbill
• Pipridae: manakins

This group has been separated into three parvorders by Sibley & Ahlquist. However, as indicated above, DNA-DNA hybridization has shown to be not very well suited to reliably resolve the suboscine phylogeny. It was eventually determined that there was a simple dichotomy between the antbirds and allies (tracheophones), and the tyrant-flycatchers and allies.^[2] Given that the "parvorder" arrangement originally advanced is certainly obsolete (see e.g. Irestedt et al. 2002 for tracheophone phylogeny) - more so if the Eurylaimides are elevated to a distinct suborder - it would be advisable to rank the clades as superfamilies, or if the broadbill group is considered a separate suborder, as infraorders. In the former case, the name Furnarioidea would be available for the tracheophones, whereas "Tyrannioidea", the "bronchophone" equivalent, has not yet been formally defined.^[3] In the latter case, the tracheophones would be classified as "Furnariides",^[4] while the Tyrannides would be restricted to the tyrant-flycatchers and other "bronchophone" families.

The tracheophones contain the Furnariidae, Thamnophilidae, Formicariidae (probably including most tapaculos), and Conopophagidae. The tyrant-flycatcher clade includes the namesake family, the Cotingidae, and the Pipridae.

References

• Irestedt, Martin; Fjeldså, Jon; Johansson, Ulf S. & Ericson, Per G.P. (2002): Systematic relationships and biogeography of the tracheophone suboscines (Aves: Passeriformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23(3): 499–512. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00034-9 (HTML abstract)

Footnotes

1. ^ DNA and Passerine Classification
2. ^ A conceivable vernacular name would be "bronchophones". This would parallel the German vernacular names, Luftröhrenschreier (tracheophones) and Bronchienschreier (bronchophones).
3. ^ And thus should not be used without quotation marks.
4. ^ See remark at "Tyrannioidea". This peculiarity is explained by the fact that Sibley & Ahlquist's analyses erroneously suggested an overly complex phylogeny for the tracheophones, and a much simpler one for the tyrant-flycatchers and allies.

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