Discover

:''For the fish species known as the white-eye, see White-eye (fish).''
The 'white-eyes' are small passerine birds native to tropical and sub-tropical Africa, southern Asia and Australasia. They also inhabit most of the islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans (though not Far Polynesia). Many white-eye species are endemic to single islands, and the brown-backed species only occur on islands, but some have a very wide distribution. The Silvereye, ''Zosterops lateralis'', naturally colonised New Zealand, where it is known as the "Wax-eye" or ''Tauhau'' ("stranger"), from 1855.
__TOC__
The birds of this group are mostly of undistinguished appearance, the plumage above being generally either some dull color like greenish olive, but some species have a white or bright yellow throat, breast or lower parts, and several have buff flanks. But as indicated by their scientific name, derived from the Ancient Greek for girdle-eye, around the eyes of many species is a conspicuous white ring. They have rounded wings and strong legs. The size ranges up to 15cm (6 inches) in length.
All the species of white-eyes are sociable, forming large flocks which only separate on the approach of the breeding season. They build tree nests and lay 2-4 unspotted pale blue eggs. Though mainly insectivorous, they eat nectar and fruits of various kinds. The Silvereye can be a problem in Australian vineyards, through piercing the grape allowing infection or insect damage to follow.

Contents

Systematics

Diversity

References

External links

Systematics

The white-eyes were long considered a distinct family 'Zosteropidae' because they are rather homogenous in morphology and ecology, leading top little adaptive radiation and divergence.
The genus ''Apalopteron'', formerly placed in the Meliphagidae, was transferred to the white-eyes on genetic evidence. It differs much in appearance from the typical white-eyes, ''Zosterops'', but is approached by some Micronesian taxa; its color pattern is fairly unique save the imperfect white eye-ring.
In 2003, Alice Cibois published the results of her study of mtDNA cytochrome ''b'' and 12S/16S rRNA sequence data. According to her results, the white-eyes were likely to form a clade also containing the Yuhinas, which were until then placed with the Old World babblers, a large "wastebin" family. Previous molecular studies (e.g. Sibley & Ahlquist 1990, Barker ''et al.'' 2002) had together with the morphological evidence tentatively placed white-eyes as the Timaliidae's closest relatives already. But some questions remained, mainly because the white-eyes are all very similar birds in habitus and habits, while the Old World babblers are very diverse (because, as we now know, the group as formerly defined was polyphyletic).
Combined with the yuhinas (and possibly other Timaliidae), the limits of the white-eye clade to the "true" Old World babblers becomes indistinct. Therefore, the current (early 2007) opinion weighs towards merging the group into the Timaliidae, perhaps as a subfamily ("Zosteropinae"). Few white-eyes have been thoroughly studied with the new results in mind, however, and almost all of these are from ''Zosterops'' which even at this point appears over-lumped. Also, many "Old World babblers" remain of unresolved relationships. Whether there can be a clear delimitation of a white-eye subfamily or even a young or emerging family is a question that requires a more comprehensive study of both this group and Timaliidae to resolve.(Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006)
For example, a revision of the yuhinas and the genus ''Stachyris'' (Cibois ''et al.'' 2002), based on the same genes as Cibois (2003), revealed that the Philippine species placed in the latter genus by some were actually yuhinas. However, when the review by Jønsson & Fjeldså (2006) was published, no study had tried to propose a phylogeny for the newly-defined yuhinas including the white-eyes. Therefore, Jønsson & Fjeldså (2006) give a rather misleading phylogeny for the group. It appears as if the yuhinas are polyphyletic, with the White-collared Yuhina being closer to the ancestor of the ''Zosterops'' white-eyes than to other yuhinas including the species moved from ''Stachyris'' (Cibois ''et al.'' 2002).

Diversity

★ 'Genus ''Speirops'''

★
★ Fernando Po Speirops, ''Speirops brunneus''

★
★ Principe Speirops, ''Speirops leucophoeus''

★
★ Black-capped Speirops, ''Speirops lugubris''

★
★ Cameroon Speirops, ''Speirops melanocephalus''

★ 'Genus ''Zosterops''' - typical white-eyes (some 75 species, 1-3 recently extinct; polyphyletic)

★ 'Genus ''Rukia''' - Eastern Carolines White-eyes

★
★ Long-billed White-eye, ''Rukia longirostra''

★
★ Truk White-eye, ''Rukia ruki''

★ 'Genus ''Cleptornis'''

★
★ Golden White-eye, ''Cleptornis marchei''

★ 'Genus ''Tephrozosterops'''

★
★ Rufescent White-eye, ''Tephrozosterops stalkeri''

★ 'Genus ''Madanga'''

★
★ Rufous-throated White-eye, ''Madanga ruficollis''


★ 'Genus ''Lophozosterops'''

★
★ Dark-crowned White-eye, ''Lophozosterops dohertyi''

★
★ Mindanao White-eye, ''Lophozosterops goodfellowi''

★
★ Javan Grey-throated White-eye, ''Lophozosterops javanicus''

★
★ Grey-hooded White-eye, ''Lophozosterops pinaiae''

★
★ Streak-headed White-eye, ''Lophozosterops squamiceps''

★
★ White-browed White-eye, ''Lophozosterops superciliaris''

★ 'Genus ''Oculocincta'''

★
★ Pygmy White-eye, ''Oculocincta squamifrons''

★ 'Genus ''Heleia'''

★
★ Flores White-eye, ''Heleia crassirostris''

★
★ Timor White-eye, ''Heleia muelleri''

★ 'Genus ''Chlorocharis'''

★
★ Mountain Black-eye, ''Chlorocharis emiliae''

★ 'Genus ''Woodfordia'''

★
★ Sanford's White-eye, ''Woodfordia lacertosa''

★
★ Bare-eyed White-eye, ''Woodfordia superciliosa''

★ 'Genus ''Megazosterops''' - sometimes placed in ''Rukia''

★
★ Giant White-eye, ''Megazosterops palauensis''

★ 'Genus ''Hypocryptadius'''

★
★ Cinnamon White-eye, ''Hypocryptadius cinnamomeus''

★ 'Genus ''Apalopteron''' - Bonin White-eye (formerly "Bonin Honeyeater")

★ 'Genus ''Yuhina''' - yuhinas

If the white-eyes are maintained as a separate family or subfamily, this genus would have to be included there too.

★ 'Genus ''Yuhina''' - yuhinas. Possibly polyphyletic.

★ Basal

★
★ White-collared Yuhina, ''Yuhina diademata''

★ Philippine clade

★
★ Pygmy Yuhina, ''Yuhina plateni'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''; tentatively placed here

★
★ Golden-crowned Yuhina, ''Yuhina dennistouni'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''

★
★ Black-crowned Yuhina, ''Yuhina nigrocapitata'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''; tentatively placed here

★
★ Rusty-crowned Yuhina, ''Yuhina capitalis'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''; tentatively placed here

★
★ Chestnut-faced Yuhina, ''Yuhina whiteheadi'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''

★
★ Luzon Striped Yuhina, ''Yuhina striata'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''

★
★ Panay Striped Yuhina, ''Yuhina latistriata'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''; tentatively placed here

★
★ Negros Striped Yuhina, ''Yuhina nigrorum'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''; tentatively placed here

★
★ Palawan Striped Yuhina, ''Yuhina hypogrammica'' - formerly in ''Stachyris''; tentatively placed here

★ Unresolved

★
★ Striated Yuhina, ''Yuhina castaniceps''

★
★ Chestnut-crested Yuhina, ''Yuhina everetti''

★
★ White-naped Yuhina, ''Yuhina bakeri''

★
★ Whiskered Yuhina, ''Yuhina flavicollis''

★
★ Burmese Yuhina, ''Yuhina humilis''

★
★ Stripe-throated Yuhina, ''Yuhina gularis''

★
★ Rufous-vented Yuhina, ''Yuhina occipitalis''

★
★ Taiwan Yuhina, ''Yuhina brunneiceps''

★
★ Black-chinned Yuhina, ''Yuhina nigrimenta''

References

★ 'Alström', Per; Ericson, Per G.P.; Olsson, Urban & Sundberg, Per (2006): Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' '38'(2): 381–397.

★ 'Barker', F. Keith; Barrowclough, George F. & Groth, Jeff G. (2002): A phylogenetic hypothesis for passerine birds: taxonomic and biogeographic implications of an analysis of nuclear DNA sequence data. ''Proc. R. Soc. B'' '269'(1488): 295-308. PDF fulltext

★ 'Cibois', Alice (2003): Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeny of Babblers (Timaliidae). ''Auk'' '120'(1): 1-20. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2003)120[0035:MDPOBT]2.0.CO;2 HTML fulltext without images

★ 'Cibois', Alice; Kalyakin, Mikhail V.; Lian-Xian, Han & Pasquet, Eric (2002): Molecular phylogenetics of babblers (Timaliidae): revaluation of the genera ''Yuhina'' and ''Stachyris''. ''J. Avian Biol.'' '33': 380–390. (HTML abstract)

★ 'Jønsson', Knud A. & 'Fjeldså', Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). ''Zool. Scripta'' '35'(2): 149–186. (HTML abstract)

★ 'Sibley', Charles Gald & 'Ahlquist', Jon Edward (1990): ''Phylogeny and classification of birds''. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.

External links

★ White-Eye videos on the Internet Bird Collection