Icteridae

Introduction

The New World Blackbird clade (Icteridae) consists of 97 species in 27 genera, distributed throughout the western hemisphere. This clade has been of great interest to evolutionary biologists and behavioral ecologists because of the broad range of morphologies and behaviors exhibited.  If the archetypical songbird species is monogamous, sexually monochromatic, monomorphic in size, territorial, breeds at age one year, builds a cup-shaped nest, and has a species-specific song, then the New World Blackbird clade contains not only "typical" song bird species, but also species demonstrating a wide range of interesting morphological and behavioral departures from this norm.  Within the Icteridae, various species:

• are polygynous,
• are promiscuous,
• are sexually dimorphic in coloration,
• are sexually dimorphic in size,
• are colonial nesters,
• breed at age two years or older,
• exhibit delayed plumage maturation,
• build pendant nests,
• nest in burrows,
• are nest parasites,
• are brood parasites, and
• are vocal mimics.

This clade is the subject of an NSF funded "Assembling the Tree of Life" grant (DEB-0316092) to Keith Barker (University of Minnesota), Kevin Burns (San Diego State University), John Klicka (University of Nevada-Las Vegas), Scott Lanyon (University of Minnesota), and Irby Lovette (Cornell University).  Our goal is to sequence multiple genes for every species of "nine-primaried oscine" and to construct a robust phylogeny from these data.  This page will be updated once this research has been completed.

Other Names for Icteridae

• New World Blackbirds

References

Cadena, C.D., A.M. Cuervo, and S.M. Lanyon. 2004. Phylogenetic relationships of the Red-bellied Grackle (Icteridae: Hypopyrrhus pyrohypogaster) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Condor 106:664-670 .

Johnson, K.P. and S.M. Lanyon. 1999. Molecular systematics of the grackles and allies, and the effect of additional sequence (cyt b and nd2). Auk 116:759-768.

Klicka, J., K.P. Johnson, and S.M. Lanyon. 2000. New World nine-primaried oscine relationships: Constructing a mitochondrial DNA framework. Auk 117:321-336.

Lanyon, S.M. 1994. Polyphyly of the blackbird genus Agelaius and the importance of assumptions of monophyly in comparative studies. Evolution 48:679-693.

Lanyon, S.M. and K.E. Omland. 1999. A molecular phylogeny of the blackbirds (Icteridae): Five lineages revealed by cytochrome-b sequence data. Auk 116:629-639.

Lowther, P.E., R. Fraga, T.S. Schulenberg, and S.M. Lanyon. 2004. Nomenclatural solution for a polyphyletic Agelaius. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 124:171-177.

Omland, K.E., S.M. Lanyon, and S. Fritz. 1999. A molecular phylogeny of the New World Orioles (Icterus): The importance of dense taxon sampling. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12:224-239.

Orians, G.H. 1985. Blackbirds of the Americas. Univ. of Washington Press, Seattle.

Price, J. and S.M. Lanyon. 2002. A robust phylogeny of the oropendolas: Polyphyly revealed by mitochondrial sequence data. Auk 119:335-348.

Price, J. and S. M. Lanyon. R2002. Reconstructing the evolution of complex bird song in the oropendolas. Evolution 56(7):1514-1529.

Price, J. and S. M. Lanyon. Patterns of song evolution and sexual selection in the oropendolas and caciques. Behavioral Ecology 15:485-497.

Price, J. and S. M. Lanyon. 2004. Song and mtDNA identify congruent but novel affinities of the Green Oropendola Auk 121:224-229.