The behavioural affinities of the Blue Wrens of the genus Malurus.

Abstract

There are few definite morphological characters which can be used to separate the flycatchers, thrushes, warblers, and babblers, and these are often grouped within the Muscicapidae, but by using a group of behavioural characters it seems possible to separate the babblers, here regarded as a family, the Timaliidae, from the others. If these characters are used the Blue Wrens of the genus Malurus would appear to be separated from the Australasian warblers of the Malurinae. Species of Malurus show social behaviour unlike that of the Muscicapidae but similar to that of the Timaliidae. The morphological characters of Malurus do not link it with any particular subfamily of the Muscicapidae, and all the characters, with the exception of the seasonal change of plumage in the male, can be found in one or other species of the Timaliidae. It is suggested that Malurus and the related genera, Todopsis, Chenorhamphus, Ctytomyias, Stipiwrlls, and Lamprolia, should be separated from the Malurinae and provisionally placed with the Timaliidae.