Misplaced Pages

#511488

20-645: See text The white-eyes are a family , Zosteropidae , of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa , southern and eastern Asia , and Australasia . White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean , the western Pacific Ocean , and the Gulf of Guinea . Discounting some widespread members of the genus Zosterops , most species are endemic to single islands or archipelagos . The silvereye , Zosterops lateralis , naturally colonised New Zealand , where it

40-513: A clear delimitation of a white-eye subfamily or even a young or emerging family is a question that requires a more comprehensive study of both this group and Timaliidae to resolve (Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006). For example, a revision of the yuhinas and the genus Stachyris (Cibois et al. 2002), based on the same genes as Cibois (2003), revealed that the Philippine species placed in the latter genus by some were actually yuhinas. However, when

60-532: A conspicuous ring of tiny white feathers around their eyes. The scientific name of the group also reflects this latter feature, being derived from the Ancient Greek for "girdle-eye". They have rounded wings and strong legs. Like many other nectarivorous birds, they have slender, pointed bills, and brush-tipped tongues. The size ranges up to 15 cm (5.9 in) in length. All the species of white-eyes are sociable, forming large flocks that only separate on

80-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called

100-679: Is known as the "wax-eye" or tauhou ("stranger"), from 1855. The silvereye has also been introduced to the Society Islands in French Polynesia , while the Japanese white-eye has been introduced to Hawaii . White-eyes are mostly of undistinguished appearance, the plumage being generally greenish olive above, and pale grey below. Some species have a white or bright yellow throat, breast, or lower parts, and several have buff flanks. As their common name implies, many species have

120-494: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Subfamily Detarioideae is an example of a botanical subfamily. Detarioideae

140-612: The Old World babblers , a large " wastebin " family. Previous molecular studies (e.g. Sibley & Ahlquist 1990, Barker et al. 2002) had together with the morphological evidence tentatively placed white-eyes as the Timaliidae's closest relatives already. But some questions remained, mainly because the white-eyes are all very similar birds in habitus and habits, while the Old World babblers are very diverse (because, as we now know,

160-620: The silvereye (110 species) The family contains 149 species divided into 13 genera: Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae ) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to

180-536: The French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte . The white-eyes were long considered a distinct family Zosteropidae because they are rather homogeneous in morphology and ecology , leading to little adaptive radiation and divergence . The genus Apalopteron , formerly placed in the Meliphagidae , was transferred to the white eyes in 1995 on genetic and behavioral evidence. It differs much in appearance from

200-460: The approach of the breeding season. They build trees nests and lay two to four eggs which are usually pale blue. Though mainly insectivorous, they eat nectar and fruits of various kinds. The silvereye can be a problem in Australian vineyards, by piercing the grape allowing infection or insect damage to follow. The family Zosteropidae was introduced (as a subfamily Zosteropinae) in 1853 by

220-542: The family Juglandaceae , but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to

SECTION 10

#1732783144512

240-540: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and

260-604: The group as formerly defined was polyphyletic ). Combined with the yuhinas (and possibly other Timaliidae), the limits of the white-eye clade to the "true" Old World babblers becomes indistinct. Therefore, the current (early 2007) opinion weighs towards merging the group into the Timaliidae, perhaps as a subfamily ("Zosteropinae"). Few white-eyes have been thoroughly studied with the new results in mind, however, and almost all of these are from Zosterops which even at this point appears over-lumped . Also, many "Old World babblers" remain in unresolved relationships. Whether there can be

280-496: The relationships between the genera is based on the study by Carl Oliveros and collaborators that was published in 2021. The genera Apalopteron , Tephrozosterops and Rukia were not sampled in this study. The genus Megazosterops was found to be nested in Heleia . The earlier study by Cai and collaborators found a generally similar phylogeny but with Cleptornis as sister to Heleia . Cai's study found that Apalopteron

300-472: The review by Jønsson & Fjeldså (2006) was published, no study had tried to propose a phylogeny for the newly defined yuhinas including the white eyes. Therefore, Jønsson & Fjeldså (2006) give a rather misleading phylogeny for the group. It appears as if the yuhinas are polyphyletic, with the white-collared yuhina being closer to the ancestor of the Zosterops white-eyes than to other yuhinas including

320-575: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted

340-899: The species moved from Stachyris (Cibois et al. 2002). In the past, the Madanga ( Madanga ruficollis ) was included in this family but studies now place it as an atypical member of the Motacillidae . The cladogram below showing the relationships between families is based on a study of babblers by Tianlong Cai and collaborators published in 2019. Pycnonotidae – bulbuls (167 species) Sylviidae – sylviid babblers (32 species) Paradoxornithidae – parrotbills and myzornis (38 species) Zosteropidae – white-eyes (152 species) Timaliidae – tree babblers (58 species) Pellorneidae – ground babblers (68 species) Alcippeidae – Alcippe fulvettas (10 species) Leiothrichidae – laughingthrushes and allies (133 species) The cladogram below showing

360-418: The typical white-eyes, Zosterops , but is approached by some Micronesian taxa ; its color pattern is fairly unusual save the imperfect white eye-ring. In 2003, Alice Cibois published the results of her study of mtDNA cytochrome b and 12S / 16S rRNA sequence data. According to her results, the white-eyes were likely to form a clade also containing the yuhinas , which were until then placed with

380-496: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,

400-544: Was nested within Heleia with weak support and that Tephrozosterops was sister to Zosterops . Parayuhina – white-collared yuhina Staphida – yuhinas (3 species) Yuhina – yuhinas (7 species) Cleptornis – golden white-eye Dasycrotapha – babblers (3 species) Sterrhoptilus – babblers (4 species) Zosterornis – babblers (5 species) Heleia and Megazosterops – white-eyes (11 species altogether) Zosterops – white-eyes, speirops and

#511488