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Concept
Artamidae
Summary
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. 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).
The family Artamidae was introduced by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825.
The artamids are part of the superfamily Malaconotoidea, a lineage which is widespread through Australasia and consists of a vast diversity of omnivorous and carnivorous songbirds. The family Artamidae has been divided over time into two subfamilies. With few studies and dispute on the inclusion of Cracticidae within the family Artamidae, it appears they have been placed in this respective joint position due to lack of evidence or knowledge.
Jerome Fuchs and colleagues extensively analysed both the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of the artamid family. The results suggested that the group may have existed in Australasia for 33.7 to 45 million years, dating back to the late Eocene
Kurrartapu is a fossil species known from a proximal tarsometatarsus from the Early Miocene at Riversleigh in central Queensland. It was around the same size as the black butcherbird and had features in common with Strepera and Cracticus.
Artamid species occur throughout Australasia with most species occurring in Australia and New Guinea.
The social interactions of artamids vary from the solitary black butcherbird, which lives alone or in a single pair, to the white-breasted woodswallow, which lives in flocks or loose colonies.
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