Passerine

Passerines
Temporal range: Lower Eocene to Recent
Clockwise from top right: Palestine sunbird (Cinnyris osea), blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), great tit (Parus major), hooded crow (Corvus cornix), southern masked weaver (Ploceus velatus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Subclass:
Neornithes
Infraclass:
Neognathae
Superorder:
Neoaves
Order:
Passeriformes

Linnaeus, 1758
Suborders
Diversity
Roughly 140 families, around 6,500 species

A passerine is a small or medium-sized bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. They are perching birds. Most of them are small in size, and most can sing very well. Their main suborder is the Passeri, the songbirds.

Adaptations

The passerines have a number of adaptations which, taken together, have made them highly successful, with many species around the world.

  1. Perching. All passerines have four toes on each foot. Three of the toes point forwards. The other toe points backwards. This means that passerines can easily hold onto trees or rocks. Because of this, they are also known as perching birds. A tendon in the rear of the leg makes the foot curl and grip when the bird lands on a branch. This is more than just a convenience for the birds: it is a tendon locking mechanism so they can sleep without falling off.
  2. All passerine chicks are born in an undeveloped state (altricial): they need parental help. Their eyes are closed, and they are bald, with little or no down. They cannot leave the nest, and must be fed by the parents. The advantage of this is that their brains grow larger during the fledgling stage. In birds which leave the nest early, their brains depend mainly on material in the egg. Passerines have significantly large brains compared to body size, and many passerines are comparatively intelligent.
  3. The use of song for communication. This is the most obvious adaptation.
  4. Almost all passerines have 12 tail feathers. This is a basal trait, a feature inherited from their past. It leads biologists to think this large group originally had one common ancestor.

Evolution

Evidence on their evolution comes from comparative anatomy, the fossil record and molecular biology.

It is thought that the first passerines evolved in the southern continent of Gondwana in the Palaeogene. This might have taken place around the Upper Palaeocene some 60–55 mya. The latest opinion on passerine evolution is that the passerines originated on the Australian landmass ∼47 mya.

The early fossil record is poor because the first Passeriformes were on the small side, and their delicate bones did not preserve well. Two specimens from Queensland, Australia are fossil bone fragments clearly recognizable as passeriform. They are two species of about 10 and 20 cm in overall length. This proves that some 55 mya, barely into the early Eocene, early perching birds were recognizably distinct. It also suggests that the origin of this great order of birds was in the southern continent.

Taxonomy

Striated pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) with nesting material

There are three sub-orders: Acanthisitti, Tyranni and Passeri. There are only two bird species in the sub-order Acanthisitti. They are known as New Zealand wrens. The sub-order Tyranni are also known as the suboscines. Many of these birds are found in tropical areas. The sub-order Passeri has the most bird species. They are also known as the oscines.

Golden-headed manakin (Pipra erythrocephala)
Rainbow pitta (Pitta iris), a dark bird with bright color patches. Most Pittidae have similar colors
Yellow-faced honeyeater
Male stitchbird or hihi (Notiomystis cincta)
Yellow-crowned gonolek (Laniarius barbarus)
The Hawaiian crow or alala (Corvus hawaiiensis) is nearly extinct
Male regent bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus)
The tiny goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
Lesser striped swallow (Cecropis abyssinica)
Blyth's reed-warbler (Acrocephalus dumetorum)
Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae)
Green-and-gold tanager (Tangara schrankii)

Suborder Acanthisitti

Suborder Tyranni

Suboscines

Suborder Passeri

Songbirds or oscines

Infraorder Passerida

  • Superfamily Sylvioidea – mostly insectivores, distribution centered on the Indo-Pacific region. Few occur in the Australian region and fewer still in the Americas. Usually sleek and drab birds, few have pronounced sexual dimorphism.
    • Alaudidae: larks
    • Hirundinidae: swallows and martins
    • Phylloscopidae: leaf-warblers and allies.
    • Aegithalidae: long-tailed tits or bushtits
    • Cettiidae: ground-warblers and allies
    • Megaluridae: grass-warblers and allies
    • "Bernieridae": Malagasy warblers. A new family.
    • Acrocephalidae: marsh- and tree-warblers
    • Pycnonotidae: bulbuls
    • Cisticolidae: cisticolas and allies
    • Sylviidae: "true warblers" and parrotbills.
    • Zosteropidae: white-eyes
    • Timaliidae: (Old World) babblers.
    • Sylvioidea (?)
  • Superfamily Muscicapoidea – mostly insectivores, near-global distribution centered on Old World tropics. One family endemic to Americas. Nearly absent (except introductions) from the Australian region. Usually rather stocky for their size, most are quite dark and dull though Sturnidae are commonly iridescent and/or colorful. Sexual dimorphism often absent, sometimes pronounced.
    • Cinclidae: dippers
    • Muscicapidae: Old World flycatchers and chats.
    • Turdidae: thrushes and allies.
    • Buphagidae: oxpeckers. Formerly usually included in Sturnidae.
    • Sturnidae: starlings and possibly Philippine creepers.
    • Mimidae: mockingbirds and thrashers
Brown-headed nuthatch (Sitta pusilla). Nuthatches can climb down trees
  • Superfamily Certhioidea - wrens and allies
  • Superfamily Passeroidea – mostly herbivores including many seed-eaters, near-global distribution centered on Palearctic and Americas. Includes the Nine-primaried oscines (probably a subclade). A very high proportion of colorful and highly sexually dimorphic forms.
    • Passeridae: true sparrows
    • Prunellidae: accentors
    • Motacillidae: wagtails and pipits
    • Urocynchramidae Przewalski's finch
    • Estrildidae: estrildid finches (waxbills, munias, etc.)
    • Ploceidae: weavers
    • Viduidae: indigobirds and whydahs
    • Nine-primaried oscines:
      • Peucedramidae: olive warbler
      • Fringillidae: true finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers
      • Icteridae: grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles
      • Parulidae: New World warblers
      • Thraupidae: tanagers and allies
      • Cardinalidae: cardinals
      • Emberizidae: buntings and American sparrows
    • Coerebidae: bananaquit
  • Passerida: (?)
    • Panurus: bearded reedling ("bearded "tit")
    • Paroidea: titmice and allies
      • Paridae: tits, chickadees and titmice
      • Remizidae: penduline tits
      • Stenostiridae: stenostirids ("flycatcher-tits")
    • "Bombycilloidea" waxwings and allies
      • Bombycillidae: waxwings
      • Dulidae: palmchat
      • Ptilogonatidae: silky flycatchers
      • Hypocoliidae: Hypocolius
      • Mohoidae
    • "Dicaeoidea" sunbirds and flowerpeckers
      • Nectariniidae: sunbirds
      • Dicaeidae: flowerpeckers
    • Promeropidae: sugarbirds

References

  1. ↑ Sibley C.G. & Monroe B.L. Jr. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of the birds of the World. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven CT.
  2. ↑ Stefoff, Rebecca (2008), The Bird Class, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
  3. ↑ Brooke, Michael & Birkhead, Tim 1991. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Ornithology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521362059
  4. ↑ It works by one tendon running down the leg shifting position slightly so it grips the tendon which closes the toes. Bats independently evolved a similar arrangement. Quinn T.H. & Baumel J.J. 1990. Chiropteran locking mechanisms: the passive digital lock. J. Morphology. 109, 281–208.
  5. ↑ Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye 1988. Precocial and altricial young.
  6. ↑ The superb lyrebird has 16. Jones D. 2008. Flight of fancy. Australian Geographic, 89, 18–19.
  7. ↑ Barker, F. Keith et al. 2004: Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101, 11040-11045. doi:10.1073/pnas.0401892101 PDF fulltext Archived 2008-03-09 at the Wayback Machine Supporting information Archived 2008-06-25 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Barker, F. Keith; Barrowclough, George F. & Groth, Jeff G. 2002. A phylogenetic hypothesis for passerine birds: taxonomic and biogeographic implications of an analysis of nuclear DNA sequence data. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 269: 295-308. doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1883 PDF fulltext Archived 2008-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Oliveros C.H. et al 2019. Earth history and the passerine superradiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. 116 (16): 7916–7925.
  10. ↑ Boles, Walter E. 1997. Fossil songbirds (Passeriformes) from the early Eocene of Australia. Emu. 97 (1): 43-50. doi:10.1071/MU97004