Phaenicophilidae
Family of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Phaenicophilidae are a family of passerine birds endemic to the island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and adjacent islands. The family contains four species in three genera. These species were historically classified within the families Thraupidae (tanagers) and Parulidae (New World warblers),[2] but genetic studies have confirmed they form a distinct clade.
| Hispaniolan tanagers | |
|---|---|
| |
| Black-crowned tanager (Phaenicophilus palmarum) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Emberizoidea |
| Family: | Phaenicophilidae P.L. Sclater, 1886[1] |
| Type genus | |
| Phaenicophilus | |
| Genera | |
 | |
| Range of the Phaenicophilidae (Hispaniola and adjacent islands) | |
Taxonomy
The family was originally established to classify the genus Phaenicophilus. It was reinstated when molecular genetic studies revealed that various species traditionally classified in Thraupidae (including the two Phaenicophilus species) and some from Parulidae were not as closely related to the members of those families as they were to each other. This led to the inclusion of the genera Microligea and Xenoligea into Phaenicophilidae. The closest relatives to this family are the Icteridae (New World blackbirds) and Parulidae (New World warblers).[3][4]
Several other groups of Caribbean tanagers—specifically the genera Nesospingus, Spindalis, and Calyptophilus—were previously included in this group or tentatively associated with it. However, the analyses by Barker et al. (2013, 2015) suggested these lineages are sufficiently divergent to warrant their own monotypic families: Nesospingidae, Spindalidae, and Calyptophilidae, respectively. These taxa are likely closely related to one another but appear to have diverged in the distant past.[5]
These taxonomic changes have been adopted by the International Ornithological Congress (IOC)[6] and the Clements Checklist.[7]
Species
The family consists of three genera and four species:
| Image | Genus | Species |
|---|---|---|
_(8082776636).jpg) | Microligea Cory, 1884 |
|
_(8082795709).jpg) | Xenoligea Bond, 1967 |
|
 | Phaenicophilus Strickland, 1851 |
|
