Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Passerides: Sylviida: Sylvioidea

Distribution: Africa, Eurasia, Wallacea

Number of extant genera: ~30 (three of which are still unnamed)

Number of extant species: ~161

References

Alström P, Ericson PGP, Olsson U, and Sundberg P (2006), Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 38, 381-397. (abstract)

Alström P, Olsson U, and Lei F (2013), A review of the recent advances in the systematics of the avian superfamily Sylioidea, Avian Res 4, 99-131. (free pdf) 

Barker FK, Cibois A, Schikler PA, Feinstein J, and Cracraft J (2002), Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 101, 11040-45. (pdf)

Cai T, Cibois A, Alström P, Moyle RG, Kennedy JG, Shao S, Zhang R, Irestedt M, Ericson PGP, Gelang M, Qu Y, Lei F, and Fjeldså J (2019), Near-complete phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the world’s babblers (Aves: Passeriformes), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 130, 346-356. (pdf) 

Cai T, Shao S, Kennedy JD, Alström P, Moyle RG, Qu Y, Lei F, and Fjeldså J (2020), The role of evolutionary time, diversification rates and dispersal in determining the global diversity of a large radiation of passerine birds, J. Biogeogr. 47, 1612-25. (free reading)

Cibois A, Slikas B, Schulenberg TS, and Pasquet E (2001), An endemic radiation of Malagasy songbirds is revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequence data, Evolution 55, 1198-1206. (free pdf)

Cibois A (2003), Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of babblers (Timaliidae), Auk 120, 1-20. (free pdf)

Ericson PGP, Klopfstein S, Irestedt M, Nguyen JMT, and Nylander JAA (2014), Dating the diversification of the major lineages of Passeriformes (Aves), BMC Ecol. Evol. 14, e:8. (free pdf) 

Fregin S, Haase M, Olsson U, and Alström A (2012), New insights into family relationships within the avian superfamily Sylvioidea (Passeriformes) based on seven molecular markers, BMC Evol. Biol. 12, e:157. (free pdf) 

Fuchs J, Pasquet E, Stuart BL, Woxvold IA, Duckworth JE, and Bowie RCK (2018), Phylogenetic affinities of the enigmatic Bare-faced Bulbus Pycnonotus hualon with description of a new genus, Ibis 160, 659-665. (abstract)

Gelang M, Cibois A, Pasquet E, Olsson U, Alström P, and Ericson PGP (2009), Phylogeny of babblers (Aves, Passeriformes): major lineages, family limits and classification, Zool. Scr. 38, 225-236. (abstract)

Jha A, Seneviratne S, Prayag HS, and Vasudevan K (2021), Phylogeny identifies multiple colonisation events and Miocene aridification as drivers of South Asian bulbul (Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae) diversification, Org. Divers. Evol. 21, 783-794. (abstract)

Johansson US, Fjeldså J, Lokugalappatti LGS, and Bowie RCK (2007), A nuclear DNA phylogeny and proposed taxonomic revision of African greenbuls (Aves, Passeriformes, Pycnonotidae), Zool. Scr. 36, 417-427. (abstract)

Johansson US, Fjeldså J, and Bowie RCK (2008), Phylogenetic relationships within Passerida (Aves: Passeriformes): A review and a new molecular phylogeny based on three nuclear intron markers, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 48, 858-876. (abstract)

Jønsson KA, and Fjeldså J (2006), A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri), Zool. Scr. 35, 149-186. (abstract)

Kuhl H, Frankl-Vilches C, Bakker A, Mayr G, Nikolaus G, Boerno ST, Klages S, Timmermann B, and Gahr M (2021), An unbiased molecular approach using 3'UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life, Mol. Biol. Evol. 38, 108-127. (free pdf) 

Liu Y, Hu J, Li SH, Duchen P, Wegmann D, and Schweizer M (2016), Sino-Himalayan mountains act as cradles of diversity and immigration centres in the diversification of parrotbills (Paradoxornithidae), J. Biogeogr. 43, 1488-1501. (journal abstract) (author free pdf)

Manawatthana S, Laosinchai P, Onparn N, Brockelman WY, and Round PD (2017), Phylogeography of bulbuls in the genus Iole (Aves: Pycnonotidae), Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 120, 931-944. (free pdf)

Moyle RG, and Marks BD (2006), Phylogenetic relationships of the bulbuls (Aves: Pycnonotidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 40, 687-695. (abstract)

Moyle RG, Andersen MJ, Oliveros CH, Steinheimer FD, and Reddy S (2012), Phylogeny and biogeography of the core babblers (Aves: Timaliidae), Syst. Biol. 61, 631-651. (free pdf)

Oliveros CH, Field DJ, Ksepka DT, Barker KF, Aleixo A, Andersen MJ, Alström P, Benz BW, Braun EL, Braun MJ, Bravo GA, Brumfield RT, Chesser RT, Claramunt S, Cracraft J, Cuervo AM, Derryberry EP, Glenn TC, Harvey MG, Hosner PA, Joseph L, Kimball RT, Mack AL, Miskelly CM, Peterson AT, Robbins MB, Sheldon FH, Silveira LF, Smith BT, White ND, Moyle RG, and Faircloth BC (2019), Earth history and the passerine superradiation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 116, 7915-25. (pdf)

Pasquet E, Bourdon E, Kalyakin MV, and Cibois A (2006), The fulvettas (Alcippe, Timaliidae, Aves): a polyphyletic group, Zool. Scr. 35, 559-566. (abstract)

Shakya SB, and Sheldon FH (2017), The phylogeny of the world’s bulbuls (Pycnonotidae) inferred using a supermatrix approach, Ibis 159, 498-509. (pdf)

Stiller J, Feng S, Chowdhury AA, Rivas-González I, Duchêne DA, Fang Q, Deng Y, Kozlov A, Stamatakis A, Claramunt S, Nguyen JMT, Ho SYW, Faircloth BC, Haag J, Houde P, Cracraft J, Balaban M, Mai U, Chen G, Gao R, Zhou C, Xie Y, Huang Z, Cao Z, Yan Z, Ogilvie HA, Nakhleh L, Lindow B, Morel B, Fjeldså J, Hosner PA, da Fonseca RR, Petersen B, Tobias JA, Székely T, Kennedy JD, Reeve AH, Liker A, Stervander M, Antunes A, Tietze DT, Bertelsen M, Lei F, Rahbek C, Graves GR, Schierup MH, Warnow T, Braun EL, Gilbert MTP, Jarvis ED, Mirarab S, and Zhang G (2024), Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes, Nature (preview pdf)

Yeung CKL, Lin RC, Lei F, Robson C, Manh Hung L, Liang W, Zhou F, Han L, Li SH, and Yang X (2011), Beyond a morphological paradox: Complicated phylogenetic relationships of the parrotbills (Paradoxornithidae, Aves), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 61, 192-202. (abstract)