a web page by Don Roberson |
WOODSHRIKES & ALLIES Tephrodornithidae |
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Woodshrikes and flycatcher-shrikes have traditionally been placed among the cuckoo-shrikes [Campephagidae], while the philentomas, which sit upright like flycatchers, were traditionally considered to to muscicapid flycatchers. These relationships proved to be misleading when the groups were studied with molecular techniques. What is now considered the Woodshrike family — woodshrikes, flycatcher-shrikes, and philentomas — proved to be not related to any Asian birds at all. Instead, their closest relatives are in Africa! (Fuchs et al. 2004, Moyle et al. 2006). |
Among those remaining vestiges of this African-evolved group are two species of flycatcher-shrike, genus Hemipus, including the Sundaic endemic Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike (right), photographed here near the end of its range in eastern Java. Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike H. picatus ranges from India to Sumatra and Borneo. These are birds of open forest, restless and active. In contrast, the remaining two species currently assigned to the family are the dark-blue philentomas (genus Philentoma), which behave as quiet, unobtrusive dark flycatchers in the undergrowth, often swampy areas in lowland forests of Malaya and the Greater Sundas. Maroon-breasted P. velatum has a black mask and maroon breast; Rufous-winged P. pyrhopterum is a blue 'flycatcher' reddish wings and a pale belly. One would not guess their relationships by looking at them. |
| The molecular evidence is that three 'core' lineages arose in Africa: (a) the bush-shrikes, (b) the batises and wattle-eyes, and (c) the rest of the malaconotoids; e.g. Fuchs et al. (2004). The helmet-shrikes, vangas, and woodshrikes/shrike-flycatchers are all on the same evolutionary branch, but there is evidence that the vangas are a separate family that arose in Madagascar. If we split those out, the remaining species are left in the Prionopidae. Fuchs et al. (2006) and Moyle et al. (2006) provided evidence for a split of the groups (helmetshrikes in Africa, woodshrikes in Asia), and Gill et al. (2009) followed that phylogeny. Shrike-flycatchers Megabyas & Bias are placed with the batises and wattle-eyes, while flycatcher-shrikes Hemipus, woodshrikes Tephrodornis, and the two Asian Philentoma are now placed in a new family, the Tephrodornithidae. |
| Or at least that is how it stands now. Further research may better refine the situation, and there may be other members of the Thphrodornithidae than are currently known. |
Photos: The Common Woodshrike Tephrodornis pondicerianus was at Sultanpur Jheel, India, in March 2001. The Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike Hemipus hirundinaceus was at Baluran NP, Java, Indonesia, on 31 Aug 1988. Photo © Don Roberson; all rights reserved. Bibliographic note: There is no "family book" for this newly described family, and the species were assigned to "traditional" families in the Handbook of the Birds of the World project. Literature cited:
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The
Tephrodornithidae — woodshrikes, flycatcher-shrikes and philentomas —
are small shrike or flycatcher-like birds in the forests of tropical
Asia. The most common and widespread may be Common Woodshrike
(left), which ranges from Pakistan to southeast Asia. These are
typically birds of mid-canopy, tame but unobtrusive, in lowland
forests. Woodshrikes are in the genus Tephrodornis, from which the family takes its name, and there are four species: Common, Large T. gularis (India to Java), and the recently split Malabar T. sylvicola (in s.w. India, split from Large) and Ceylon T. affinis (endemic to Sri Lanka, split from Common). 
What
apparently happened is that the ancestors of bush-shrikes, batises, and
vangas arose in Africa and spread outward. Vangas evolved in
Madagascar. Some of these "bush-shrike-like" ancestors reach Asia and
diversified. Presumably many became extinct over the eons of ice ages
and the movement of tectonic plates, leaving only a remnant handful in
tropical Asia. Although the birds spread from India to Bali, none
apparently crossed Wallace's line.