? Dicruridae
Northern Fantail
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Dicruridae
Subfamilies
Monarchinae Rhipidurinae Dicrurinae

The family Dicruridae is a relatively recent grouping of a number of seemingly very different birds, mostly from the southern hemisphere, which are more closely related than they at first appear. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Placozoa (trichoplax) Subregnum Bilateria (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicatas Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Many - see section below. ... Families Many, see text A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. ... Genera many: see text The Monarchinae are a subfamily of the bird family Dicruridae, which is a relatively recent grouping of a number of seemingly very different birds, mostly from the southern hemisphere, which are more closely related than they at first appear. ... Fantails are small, insectivorous birds of Australasia belonging to the genus Rhipidura. ... Genera  Chaetorhynchus  Dicrurus The drongos are a subfamily of small passerine birds of the Old World tropics. ...

Many of the 139 species making up the family were previously assigned to other groups, largely on the basis of general morphology or behaviour. The Magpie-lark, for example, was assigned to the same family as the White-winged Chough: both build unusual nests from mud rather than vegetable matter. The Australasian fantails were thought to be allied with the fantails of the northern hemisphere (both groups share a similar diet and behaviour), and so on. In biology, a species is the basic unit of biodiversity. ... Binomial name Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) The Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) is a conspicuous Australian bird of small to medium size, also known as the Mudlark in Victoria and South Australia and the Peewee in New South Wales and Queensland. ... Binomial name Corcorax melanorhamphos Vieillot, 1817 The White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) is one of only two surviving members of the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae, and is the only member of the genus Corcorax. ... Fantails are small, insectivorous birds of Australasia belonging to the genus Rhipidura. ...

With the new insights generated by the DNA-DNA hybridisation studies of Sibley and his co-workers toward the end of the 20th century, however, it became clear that these apparently unrelated birds were all descended from a common ancestor: the same crow-like ancestor that gave rise to the drongos. DNA-DNA hybridization is a method in genetics to measure the degree of genetic similarity between DNA sequences. ... Charles Sibley (August 7, 1917 - April 12, 1998) was an American ornithologist and molecular biologist. ... Genera  Chaetorhynchus  Dicrurus The drongos are a subfamily of small passerine birds of the Old World tropics. ...

Subfamilies of Dicruridae

• Subfamily Monarchinae: boatbills, monarch flycatchers, Magpie-lark
• Subfamily Rhipidurinae
• Subfamily Dicrurinae