MUSCICAPIDAE

songbird family that traditionally included the Old World flycatchers and monarch flycatchers (sometimes also the whistlers and fantails) but now is often broadened to include the thrushes, Old World warblers, babblers, and several smaller groups, in addition to the flycatchers. Thus considered, the family contains some 1,400 species, roughly one-fourth of the order Passeriformes, or perching birds. Members of this group share a number of anatomical features, including the presence of a well-developed 10th primary feather in the wing and adaptations for insect eating. Muscicapid taxonomy is controversial, chiefly because the subgroups intergrade and because no character is taxonomically useful throughout the wide family. A number of the subgroups are frequently ranked as families in their own right, especially the thrushes (q.v.; Turdidae), warblers (q.v.; Sylviidae), and babblers (q.v.; Timaliidae). Even when considered in the narrow sense, the family Muscicapidae presents many problems, for authorities disagree on which of the flycatching groups should be included. The broader meaning of the family was adopted by the editors who continued the authoritative Check-List of Birds of the World, following the death of the original author, James L. Peters. This checklist recognizes the following subfamilies: Turdinae (thrushes) Orthonychinae (rail-babblers) Timaliinae (typical babblers) Panurinae (parrotbills) Picathartinae (rockfowl) Polioptilinae (gnatwrens and gnatcatchers) Sylviinae (warblers) Malurinae (fairy wrens) Muscicapinae (typical flycatchers) Platysteirinae (wattle-eyes) Monarchinae (monarch) Pachycephalinae (whistlers).