Sylvioidea

Sylvioidea is a superfamily of passerine birds. It is one of at least three major clades within the Passerida along with the Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. It contains about 1300 species including the Old World warblers, Old World babblers, swallows, larks, bulbuls and perhaps the tits. Members of the superfamily are found worldwide but fewer species are present in the Americas.

Systematics
The superfamily Sylvioidea was first proposed in 1990 in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy of birds. More recent studies have failed to support the inclusion of some families such as the treecreepers, wrens and allies but do support the addition of the larks.

Some of the families within the Sylvioidea have been greatly redefined. In particular, the Old World warbler family Sylviidae and Old World babbler family Timaliidae were used as wastebin taxa and included many species which have turned out not to be closely related. Several new families have been created and some species have been moved from one family to another.

List of families

 * Stenostiridae: fairy flycatchers
 * Remizidae: penduline tits
 * Paridae: tits and chickadees

It is not yet certain if the three families above belong in the Sylvioidea and they are sometimes treated as a separate superfamily, Paroidea.


 * Panuridae: the Bearded Reedling; formerly classed as a parrotbill but seems to be closest to the larks.
 * Alaudidae: larks
 * Nicatoridae: nicators; have been classed as bulbuls in the past but appear to have no close relatives.
 * Macrosphenidae: African warblers such as longbills and crombecs; a recently proposed family whose composition is still uncertain.
 * Hirundinidae: swallows and martins
 * Pnoepygidae: pygmy wren-babblers; apparently unrelated to other babblers.
 * Acrocephalidae: reed warblers and allies
 * Donacobiidae: the Black-capped Donacobius; previously classed as a wren but probably closest to the Megaluridae or Bernieridae.
 * Bernieridae: Malagasy warblers; a new family formally named in 2010.
 * Locustellidae (or Megaluridae): grassbirds and allies
 * Pycnonotidae: bulbuls
 * Cisticolidae: cisticolas and allies
 * Hyliidae: hylias
 * Aegithalidae: long-tailed tits
 * Cettiidae: bush-warblers
 * Phylloscopidae: leaf-warblers

The following groups form a single babbler radiation and it is not yet certain how many separate families should be recognized. Gelang et al. proposed a division into two families, Sylviidae and Timaliidae, with Timaliidae being divided into four subfamilies. The list of the International Ornithological Congress provisionally recognizes five families.
 * Sylviidae: Sylvia warblers and allies
 * Zosteropidae: white-eyes and allies
 * Timaliidae: tree babblers
 * Pellorneidae: ground babblers
 * Leiothrichidae: laughingthrushes and allies