Phaenicophilidae
| Greater Antillean 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 | |
Phaenicophilidae are a family of passerine birds mostly endemic to the West Indies. They are variously called the Greater Antillean Tanagers or the Hispaniolan Tanagers. The family contains nine species in five 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.
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. Most recently, several other groups of Caribbean tanagers—specifically the genera Nesospingus and Spindalis—which had been tentatively associated with this group have been added to the family. Analyses by Barker et al. (2013, 2015) had suggested these latter two lineages were sufficiently divergent to warrant their own monotypic families: Nesospingidae and Spindalidae, respectively. These taxa are likely closely related to one another but appear to have diverged in the distant past.[3] The merging of the members of the Nesospingidae and Spindalidae families into an enlarged Phaenicophilidae family has been adopted by the Clements Checklist[4] and the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) in 2025.[5]
The closest relatives to this family are the Icteridae (New World blackbirds) and Parulidae (New World warblers).[6][7]
Species
The family consists of five genera and nine species:
| Image | Genus | Species |
|---|---|---|
_(8082776636).jpg) | Microligea Cory, 1884 |
|
_(8082795709).jpg) | Xenoligea Bond, 1967 |
|
 | Phaenicophilus Strickland, 1851 |
|
 | Nesospingus Sclater, 1885 |
|
 | Spindalis Jardine & Selby, 1837 |
|
References
- ↑ Sclater, P.L. (1886). "Catalogue of the Passeriformes, or perching birds. Fringilliformes: Part II. Containing the families Coerebidae, Tanagridae, and Icteridae". Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum. Vol. 11: xvii + 494. London: Taylor & Francis. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.8233.
- ↑ Winkler, David W.; Billerman, Shawn M.; Lovette, Irby J. (2015). "Phaenicophilidae (Hispaniolan tanagers)". Bird families of the world: an invitation to the spectacular diversity of birds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. pp. 545–546. ISBN 9788494189203.
- ↑ "Phaenicophilidae". Handbook of the Birds of the World - Alive. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
- ↑ Clements, J; Schulenberg, T; Iliff, M; Roberson, D; Fredericks, T; Sullivan, B; Wood, C (2025). "The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2025". The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
- ↑ "IOC World Bird List Version 15.2". IOC World Bird List Version 15.2. International Ornithologists' Union. 2026. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
- ↑ Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2013). "Going to extremes: Contrasting rates of diversification in a recent radiation of New World passerine birds". Systematic Biology. 62 (2): 298–320. doi:10.1093/sysbio/sys094. ISSN 1063-5157. PMID 23229025.
- ↑ Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2015). "New insights into New World biogeography: An integrated view from the phylogeny of blackbirds, cardinals, sparrows, tanagers, warblers, and allies". The Auk. 132 (2): 333–348. doi:10.1642/AUK-14-110.1. ISSN 0004-8038.