| African warblers | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cape grassbird Sphenoeacus afer | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Sylvioidea |
| Family: | Macrosphenidae Wolters, 1983 |
| Genera | |
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See text | |
The African warblers are a newly erected family Macrosphenidae, of African songbirds. Most of the species were formerly placed in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, although one species, the rockrunner, was placed in the babbler family, Timaliidae. A series of molecular studies of the Old World warblers and other bird families in the superfamily Sylvioidea (which includes the larks, swallows and tits) found that the African warblers were not part of Sylviidae but were instead an early (basal) offshoot of the entire clade Sylvioidea.[1][2] Some taxonomic authorities place the entire family Hyliidae here.
- ^ Beresford, P; F.K. Barker; P.G. Ryan; T.M. Crowe (2005). "African endemics span the tree of songbirds (Passeri): Molecular systematics of several evolutionary 'enigmas". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 272 (1565): 849–858. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2997. PMC 1599865. PMID 15888418.
- ^ Johansson, Ulf; Jon Fjeldså; Rauri C.K. Bowie (2008). "Phylogenetic relationships within Passerida (Aves: Passeriformes): A review and a new molecular phylogeny based on three nuclear intron markers" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 48 (3): 858–87. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.05.029. PMID 18619860.