Artamidae

Artamidae
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Recent
Pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Superfamily: Malaconotoidea
Family: Artamidae
Vigors, 1825
Subfamilies

Artamidae is a family of passerine birds found in Australia, the Indo-Pacific region, and Southern Asia. It includes 24 extant species in six genera and three subfamilies: Peltopsinae (with one genus, Peltops), Artaminae (with one genus containing the woodswallows) and Cracticinae (currawongs and butcherbirds, including the Australian magpie). Artamids used to be monotypic, containing only the woodswallows, but it was expanded to include the family Cracticidae in 1994. Some authors, however, still treat the two as separate families.[1] Some species in this family are known for their beautiful song. Their feeding habits vary from nectar sucking (woodswallows) to predation on small birds (pied currawong).

  1. ^ Les Christidis & Walter E. Boles (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6.