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Laughingthrush
Masked Laughingthrush Garrulax perspicillatus
Masked Laughingthrush
Garrulax perspicillatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Timaliidae
Genus: Garrulax
Lesson, 1831
Species

Presently about 50, but see text

The Laughingthrushes are the genus Garrulax of the large Old World babbler family of passerine birds. Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. The Old World babblers or timaliids are a large family of mostly Old World Passerine Birds They are rather diverse in size and coloration René Primevère Lesson (March 20 1794 - April 28 1849 was a French surgeon and naturalist. The Old World babblers or timaliids are a large family of mostly Old World Passerine Birds They are rather diverse in size and coloration Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. They occur in tropical Asia, with the greatest number of species occurring in the Himalaya and southern China. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National

These are rangy, medium-sized, floppy-tailed landbirds with soft fluffy plumage. These birds have strong legs and are quite terrestrial. This group is not strongly migratory, and most species have short rounded wings, and a weak flight. Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of Birds Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank.

A few, like the Streaked Laughingthrush occur in fairly open habitats, but most are jungle species, difficult to observe in the dense vegetation they prefer. UserPolbot. -->The Streaked Laughingthrush ( Garrulax lineatus) is a species of Bird in the Timaliidae

Like other babblers, these are noisy birds, and the characteristic laughing calls are often the best indication that these birds are present. As with other babbler species, they frequently occur in groups of up to a dozen, and the rainforest species like the Ashy-headed Laughingthrush often occur in the mixed feeding flocks typical of tropical Asian jungle. The Ashy-headed Laughingthrush, Garrulax cinereifrons, is an Old World babbler.

Contents

Systematics

As with some other babblers, this genus has turned out to be highly polyphyletic. In Phylogenetics, a Taxon is polyphyletic ( Greek for "of many races" if the trait its members have in common evolved separately in different Rather than forming a natural evolutionary group of closest relatives, the laughingthrushes are spread about the entire babbler family. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 This is quite apparent by their diverse morphology and presence of several groups with distinct color patterns, but the rarity of several species and the sheer number of taxa have hitherto prevented a thorough revision. The term morphology in Biology refers to the outward appearance ( Shape, Structure, Colour, Pattern) of an Organism A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to Before this paraphyly was realized to be as dramatic as it is, it was generally assumed that the laughingthrushes were a clade comprising several subgenera. A clade is a taxonomic group comprising a single Common ancestor and all the descendants of that ancestor In Biology, a subgenus is a Taxonomic rank directly below Genus.

This has much confounded further research: most molecular phylogeny studies, for example, used only the White-crested Laughingthrush as an "example" of this "genus", because specimens were readily available. The White-crested Laughingthrush, Garrulax leucolophus is an Old World babbler. Morphological studies, on the other hand, had usually more material at their disposal, but these too were generally conducted under a false assumption of monophyly. A 2003 study[1], analyzing mtDNA cytochrome b and 12S/16S rRNA data of a number of laughingthrushes, did establish however that there is no such thing as a "representative" laughingthrush. Mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA) is the DNA located in Organelles called mitochondria. Cytochrome b/b6 is main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes Consequently most of the work regarding the evolution of this assemblage needs to be evaluated anew and if necessary even redone. Indeed, the taxon Garrulax would need to be restricted to the type species (Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush) and its closest relatives, but the species generally considered the most likely candidates have not been comprehensively studied in recent times[2]. In Taxonomy, a type species is the species that originally defined a genus. UserPolbot. -->The Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush ( Garrulax rufifrons) is a species of Bird in the

Species list

The list below uses the treatment of the laughingthrushes by Birds of South Asia[3] and the Handbook of Birds of the World[4] as a baseline, acknowledging the polyphyly of Garrulax and attempting to reorganise it into monophyletic genera. Birds of South Asia redirects here For a list of the birds of South Asia see List of birds of South Asia. HBW_-_Taxonomygif|right|frame|(400 × 258 pixels file size38KBMIME typeimage/gif|HBW-Page on Taxonomy]]HBW-accounts_8-082-083_copia A clade is a taxonomic group comprising a single Common ancestor and all the descendants of that ancestor

This list is by no means the last word on the subject though, and it is very likely that some of the new groups will be revised, expanded or split as more species are studied in the future; additional laughingthrushes are presently elevated to species status and even hitherto unknown taxa are discovered at a rate of about 1-2 per year. Some proposed small or monotypic genera on the other hand might ultimately be merged with others for convenience if they turn out to be sister taxa. Monotypic is an adjective that refers to a taxonomic group with only one type: In Botany, "monotypic" means that a Taxon has only Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of Species based on evolutionary ancestry All in all, the resolution of the laughingthrush assemblage's taxonomy depends on a resolution of the Old World babblers' systematics in general. Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification The word comes from the Greek, taxis (meaning 'order' 'arrangement' and, nomos Biological systematics is the study of the diversity of Life on the planet Earth both past and present and the relationships among living things through time

White-crested LaughingthrushGarrulax leucolophus
White-crested Laughingthrush
Garrulax leucolophus
Chinese HwameiGarrulax canorus/Leucodioptron canorum
Chinese Hwamei
Garrulax canorus/Leucodioptron canorum
Streaked LaughingthrushGarrulax lineatus/Strophocincla lineata
Streaked Laughingthrush
Garrulax lineatus/Strophocincla lineata
Red-winged LaughingthrushGarrulax formosus/Trochalopteron formosum
Red-winged Laughingthrush
Garrulax formosus/Trochalopteron formosum

References

External links

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