Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Passerides: Muscicapida: Muscicapoidea

Distribution: Africa, Eurasia, Philippines, Wallacea, northern Australia

Number of extant genera: ~36

Number of extant species: ~125

References

Arbogast BS, Drovetsky SV, Curry RL, Boag PT, Seutin G, Grant PR, Grant BR, and Anderson DJ (2006), The origin and diversification of Galapagos mockingbirds, Evolution 60, 370-382 (abstract)

Barker FK, Cibois A, Schikler P, Feinstein J, and Cracraft J (2004), Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 101, 11040-45. (pdf)

Cibois A, and Cracraft J (2004), Assessing the passerine "Tapestry": phylogenetic relationships of the Muscicapoidea inferred from nuclear DNA sequences, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 32, 264-273. (abstract)

Fuchs J, Ericson PGP, and Irestedt M (2024), Genomic insights into the evolutionary and demographic histories of the extinct Hoopoe Starling (Fregilupus varius), Ibis 166, 1073-80. (pdf)

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. (pdf) 

Lovette IJ, and Rubenstein DR (2007), A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the starlings (Aves: Sturnidae) and mockingbirds (Aves: Mimidae): congruent mtDNA and nuclear trees for a cosmopolitan avian radiation, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 44, 1031-56. (journal abstract) (author pdf)

Lovette IJ, McCleery BV, Talaba AL, and Rubenstein DR (2008), A complete species-level molecular phylogeny for the “Eurasian” starlings (Sturnidae: Sturnus, Acridotheres, and allies): Recent diversification in a highly social and dispersive avian group, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 47, 251-260. (abstract)

Moyle RG, Oliveros CH, Andersen MJ, Hosner PA, Benz BW, Manthey JD, Travers SL, Brown RM, and Faircloth BC (2016), Tectonic collision and uplift of Wallacea triggered the global songbird radiation, Nat. Commun. 7, e:12709. (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) 

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 (view pdf)

Zuccon D, Cibois A, Pasquet E, and Ericson PGP (2006), Nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data reveal the major lineages of starlings, mynas and related taxa, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 41, 333-344. (abstract)

Zuccon D, Pasquet E, and Ericson PGP (2008), Phylogenetic relationships among Palearctic-Oriental starlings and mynas (genera Sturnus and Acridotheres: Sturnidae), Zool. Scr. 37, 469-481. (abstract)