Text extracted from Gill B.J.; Bell, B.D.; Chambers, G.K.; Medway, D.G.; Palma, R.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Checklist of the of , Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. 4th edition. Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Pages 275, 279-280 & 286-288.

Order PASSERIFORMES: (Perching) Birds See Christidis & Boles (2008) for a review of recent studies relevant to the higher-level systematics of the passerine birds.

Suborder PASSERES (or POLYMYODI): Oscines () The arrangement of songbirds in the 1970 Checklist (Checklist Committee 1970) was based on the premise that the endemic to the Australasian region were derived directly from Eurasian groups and belonged in Old World families (e.g. and Petroica in Muscicapidae). The 1990 Checklist (Checklist Committee 1990) followed the Australian lead in allocating various native songbirds to their own Australasian families (e.g. Gerygone to , and Petroica to Eopsaltriidae), but the sequence was still based largely on the old Peters-Mayr arrangement. Since the late 1980s, when the 1990 Checklist was finalised, evidence from molecular biology, especially DNA studies, has shown that most of the Australian and New Zealand endemic songbirds are the product of a major Australasian radiation parallel to the radiation of songbirds in Eurasia and elsewhere. Many superficial morphological and ecological similarities between Australasian and Eurasian songbirds are the result of convergent evolution.

Sibley & Ahlquist (1985, 1990) and Sibley et al. (1988) recognised a division of the songbirds into two groups which were called and Passerida (Sibley & Ahlquist 1990). The Parvorder Corvida contained songbirds with Australasian affinities—nearly all the endemic New Zealand songbirds plus the introduced Australian magpie. The Parvorder Passerida contained songbirds with Old World affinities— nearly all the songbirds introduced to New Zealand, plus one endemic (Bowdleria) and a few native songbirds (e.g Hirundo, Zosterops).

Recent studies (e.g. Barker et al. 2004, Cracraft et al. 2004) partly supported the distinction between Corvida and Passerida, but questioned the monophyly of the Corvida. Passerida is now thought not to be the sister group to Corvida but to be embedded within it (see detailed discussion by Christidis & Boles 2008) with Petroica added to the list of native Australasian passeridans. The following arrangement of New Zealand songbirds is based largely (and where relevant) on the sequence justified by Christidis & Boles (2008). It is an interim scheme which is likely to change in future checklists with further research on phylogeny.

Recent improvements in techniques to eliminate or control mammalian predators on islands, or in defined mainland areas, mean that some of the New Zealand endemic songbirds are being translocated (re- introduced) to growing lists of localities at which predators are controlled. This is extending the ranges of the species concerned —ranges that were shrinking. Many of the more recent transfers are not mentioned in the species accounts because several years must pass before the viability of a given transfer can be assured.

“CORVIDA”: Australasian Songbirds Corvida is not a monophyletic grouping and it will be split up when the details are worked out through further research. Meanwhile, it is convenient to distinguish the songbirds of Australasian origin and affinity from those (Passerida) that derive from groups with immediate ancestry elsewhere. The families recognised in this section, and their sequence, largely follow Christidis & Boles (2008). The three endemic families of New Zealand oscines—New Zealand wattlebirds (Callaeidae), stitchbird (Notiomystidae) and piopios (Turnagridae)—have presumably all had long evolutionary histories in New Zealand, with relatively early divergence from other corvidan lineages, and are placed first. The of songbirds follows Schodde & Mason (1999) which was based on a detailed analysis of Australian and Norfolk Island specimens.

In his list of the birds of New Zealand, G.R. Gray (1862) included the species Climacteris scandens Temminck, 1824—now a junior synonym of Cormobates leucophaeus leucophaeus (Latham, 1802)— giving its locality as Norfolk Island, following a record published by Pelzeln (1860). As we have not been able to find further confirmation of that record, we have not included that species in this checklist.

Family ACANTHIZIDAE Bonaparte: Scrubwrens, Thornbills and Allies Acanthizeae Bonaparte, 1854: Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. Paris, 4th Series 1: 119 – Type genus Vigors & Horsfield, 1825.

Christidis & Boles (1994) placed these birds in the Pardalotidae, but we follow Schodde & Mason (1999) and Christidis & Boles (2008) in keeping Acanthizidae as a family separate from the .

Genus Gerygone Gould Psilopus Gould, 1838: Synop. Birds 4: 61 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Psilopus albogularis Gould = Gerygone albogularis (Gould). Junior homonym of Psilopus Poli, 1795. Gerygone Gould, 1841: in G. Grey, Journ. Two Exped. Discovery Northwest Western Australia 2: 417. Nomen novum for Psilopus Gould, 1838. Ostiarius Gistel, 1848: Naturg. Thierreichs: x. Unnecessary nomen novum for Psilopus Gould, 1838. Pseudogerygone Sharpe, 1879: Notes Leyden Mus. 1: 29 – Type species (by original designation) Gerygone personata Gould. Hapolorhynchus Reichenow, 1908: Journ. für Ornith. 56: 488 – Type species (by original designation) Pseudogerygone albofrontata (G.R. Gray) = Gerygone albofrontata G.R. Gray. Ethelornis Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 110 – Type species (by original designation) Gerygone magnirostris Gould, 1843. Royigerygone Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 110 – Type species (by original designation) Gerygone mathewsae Mathews, 1912 = Gerygone modesta Pelzeln, 1860. Wilsonavis Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 110 – Type species (by original designation) Psilopus fusca Gould, 1838 = Gerygone fusca (Gould, 1838). Maorigerygone Mathews & Iredale, 1913: Ibis 1 (10th ser.): 437 – Type species (by original designation) Curruca igata Quoy & Gaimard = Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard).

The populations of Gerygone on Norfolk Island (G. modesta) and Lord Howe Island (G. insularis, extinct) were regarded as subspecies of G. igata by Meise (1931) and Schodde & Mason (1999), but as separate species by Ford (1986) and Christidis & Boles (2008). We follow the latter arrangement.

Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard) Curruca igata Quoy & Gaimard, 1830: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 201 – Tasman Bay. Acanthiza igata (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 189. Psilopus ? igata (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1844, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (eds) 1844, Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 3. Psilopus flaviventris G.R. Gray, 1844: in Richardson & J.E. Gray (eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 3, pl. 4, fig. 1 – Bay of Islands, Northland. Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 5. Gerygone flaviventris (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 5. Gerygone assimilis Buller, 1865: Essay N.Z. Ornith.: 9 – New Zealand. Gerygone aucklandica Pelzeln, 1865: Reise der Oesterreich. Fregatte Novara Erde, Vögel: 65 – New Zealand. Acanthiza flaviventris (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 219. Gerygone sylvestris Potts, 1873: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 5: 177 – near Lake Mapourika, Westland. Pseudogerygone flaviventris (G.R. Gray); Buller 1905, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 117. Pseudogerygone sylvestris (Potts); Buller 1905, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 119. Pseudogerygone macleani Ogilvie-Grant, 1907: Ibis 1 (9th ser.): 545 – Mt Maungahaumi (2,000 feet a.s.l.), northwest of Poverty Bay. Maorigerygone igata igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th ser.): 437. Maorigerygone igata sylvestris (Potts); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th ser.): 437. Maorigerygone igata flaviventris (G.R. Gray); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th ser.): 438. Maorigerygone igata macleani (Ogilvie-Grant); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th ser.): 438. Pseudogerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 454. Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 63. Gerygone igata igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Schodde & Mason 1999, Directory Australian Birds. : 182.

New Zealand: common throughout North and South Islands, Stewart Island / Rakiura and on most offshore islands. The most widely distributed endemic (Robertson, C. et al. 2007). Occurs up to 1400–1500 m a.s.l. Vagrant to the Snares Islands / Tini Heke (Miskelly et al. 2001a). Holocene fossils rare, but, as with all small birds, this may be because the bones are small and fragile.