Timaliidae (Old World babblers)

Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Passerides: Sylviida: Sylvioidea

Distribution: Africa, Eurasia, Madagascar, and Philippines

Number of extant genera: ~10

Number of extant species: ~58

References

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)

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) (author 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, Gelang M, Alström P, Pasquet E, Fjeldså J, Ericson PGP, and Olsson U (2018), Comprehensive phylogeny of the laughingthrushes and allies (Aves, Leiothrichidae) and a proposal for a revised taxonomy, Zool. Scr. 47, 428-440. (abstract)

Collar NJ (2006), A partial revision of the Asian babblers, Forktail 22, 85-112. (pdf)

Dong F, Wu F, Liu LM, and Yang XJ (2010a), Molecular phylogeny of the barwings (Aves: Timaliidae: Actinodura), a paraphyletic group, and its taxonomic implications, Zool. Studies 49, 703-709. (pdf)

Dong F, Li SH, and Yang XJ (2010b), Molecular systematics and diversification of the Asian scimitar babblers (Timaliidae, Aves) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 57, 1268-75. (abstract)

Dong F, Li SH, Zou FS, Lei FM, Liang W, Yang JX, and Yang CJ (2014), Molecular systematics and plumage coloration evolution of an enigmatic babbler (Pomatorhinus ruficollis) in East Asia, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.  70, 76-83. (abstract)

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) 

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)

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, MolBiolEvol. 38, 108-127. (free pdf)  

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)

Nyári AS, and Reddy S (2013), Comparative phyloclimatic analysis and evolution of ecological niches in the scimitar babblers (Aves: Timaliidae: Pomatorhinus), PLoS ONE 8, e:55629. (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)

Olson SL (1995), Review of history and nomenclature of avian family-group names, Auk 112, 539-546. (free pdf)

Olsson U, Irestedt M, Sangster, G, Ericson PGP, and Alström P (2013), Systematic revision of the avian family Cisticolidae based on a multi-locus phylogeny of all genera, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 66, 790-799. (abstract)

Reddy S, and Moyle RG (2011), Systematics of the scimitar babblers (Pomatorhinus: Timaliidae): phylogeny, biogeography, and species-limits of four species complexes, Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 102, 846-869. (free 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)