title: Discovery of a relict lineage and monotypic family of passerine birds.
abstract: Analysis of one of the most comprehensive datasets to date of the largest passerine bird clade, Passerida, identified 10 primary well-supported lineages corresponding to Sylvioidea, Muscicapoidea, Certhioidea, Passeroidea, the 'bombycillids' (here proposed to be recognized as Bombycilloidea), Paridae/Remizidae (proposed to be recognized as Paroidea), Stenostiridae, Hyliotidae, Regulidae (proposed to be recognized as Reguloidea) and spotted wren-babbler Spelaeornis formosus. The latter was found on a single branch in a strongly supported clade with Muscicapoidea, Certhioidea and Bombycilloidea, although the relationships among these were unresolved. We conclude that the spotted wren-babbler represents a relict basal lineage within Passerida with no close extant relatives, and we support the already used name Elachura formosa and propose the new family name Elachuridae for this single species.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, , 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alström
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hooper
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Urban
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: Dhananjai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mohan
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gelang
authors.forename: Hung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Le Manh
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Fumin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Trevor D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030161:Avian Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D020308:Songbirds / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D030161:Avian Proteins
keywords: Elachura formosa; Passerida; Spelaeornis formosus; old species; systematics