From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also other birds with "thrush" in their name: Waterthrush, Shrike-thrush, Thrush Nightingale

Thrushes
Hermit Thrush
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Turdidae
Genera
Some 20, see text

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Turdidae

The Thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World.

They are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized insectivores or sometimes omnivores, often feeding on the ground. They range in size from the Forest Rock Thrush (Monticola sharpei), at 21 grams and 14.5 cm (5.8 inches), to the Blue Whistling Thrush (Myophonus caeruleus), at 178 grams (6.3 oz) and 33 cm (13 inches). The songs of some species, including members of the genera Catharus, Myadestes, and Turdus, are considered to be among the most beautiful in the avian world.

The taxonomic treatment of this large family has varied significantly in recent years. Traditionally, the Turdidae included the small Old World species, like the Nightingale and European Robin in the subfamily Saxicolini, but most authorities now place this group in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

This article follows the Handbook of the Birds of the World with edits from Clement and Hathaway, Thrushes (2000), and retains the large thrushes in Turdidae. Recent biochemical studies place certain traditional thrush genera (Monticola, Pseudocossyphus, Myiophonus, Brachypteryx, and Alethe) in the Muscicapidae. Conversely the Asian saxicoline genera Grandala and Cochoa belong here among the thrushes.

• Family Turdidae
  • Genus Turdus: true thrushes (some 65 species, 1 recently extinct)
  • Genus Platycichla (2 species) - part of a South American group within Turdus
  • Genus Nesocichla: Tristan Thrush or Starchy - part of a South American group within Turdus
  • Genus Cichlherminia: Forest Thrush - genus paraphyletic with Turdus
  • Genus Psophocichla : Groundscraper Thrush
  • Genus Zoothera: Asian thrushes (some 22 species, 1 recently extinct)
  • Genus Catharus: typical American thrushes and nightingale-thrushes (12 species)
  • Genus Hylocichla : Wood Thrush
  • Genus Ridgwayia: Aztec Thrush - related to Hylocichla
  • Genus Ixoreus : Varied Thrush - related to other New World genera
  • Genus Geomalia: Geomalia
  • Genus Cataponera: Sulawesi Thrush
  • Genus Sialia: bluebirds (3 species)
  • Genus Grandala, Grandala - related to Sialia
  • Genus Cichlopsis: Rufous-brown Solitaire - related to Catharus
  • Genus Entomodestes: solitaires (2 species) - related to Catharus
  • Genus Myadestes: solitaires (10-11 living species, 2-3 recently extinct)
  • Genus Neocossyphus: flycatcher thrushes and "ant-thrushes" (4 species) - related to Myadestes
  • Genus Cochoa, cochoas (4 species)
  • Genus Chlamydochaera: Fruit-hunter - related to Cochoa

Now usually considered a distinct family distantly related to Picathartes:

• Genus Chaetops: rock-jumpers (2 species)

For other species previously in Turdidae, see Muscicapidae and chats.

• Jønsson, K.A., and J. Fjeldsa. 2006. A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves:Passeri). Zoologica Scripta 35: 149-186

• Klicka, J., Voelker, G., Spellman, G.M. 2005. A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the "true thrushes" (Aves: Turdinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 34 (3), pp. 486-500. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.001

• Pan, Q.-W., Lei F.-M., Yang S.-J., Yin Z.-H., Huang Y., Tai F.-D., & Krištin, A. 2006. Phylogenetic analysis of some Turdinae birds based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences. Acta Zoologica Sinica, 52(1):87 - 98. PDF fulltext

• Pan, Q.-W., Lei, F.-M., Yin, Z.-H., Krištín, A. & Kaňuch, P. 2007 . Phylogenetic relationships between Turdus species: Mitochondrial cytochrome b gene analysis. Ornis Fennica 84 : 1 - 11. PDF fulltext

• Voelker, G., Spellman, G.M. 2004. Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA evidence of polyphyly in the avian superfamily Muscicapoidea. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 30 (2), pp. 386-394. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00191-X

• Voelker, G., Rohwer, S., Bowie, R.C.K., Outlaw, D.C. 2007. Molecular systematics of a speciose, cosmopolitan songbird genus: Defining the limits of, and relationships among, the Turdus thrushes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Volume 42(2), P.422-434. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.07.016

• Thrush videos on the Internet Bird Collection