Platysteiridae
| Wattle-eyes and batises | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Brown-throated wattle-eye | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Suborder: | Passeri |
| Family: |
Platysteiridae Sundevall, 1872 |
| Genera | |
Megabyas
Bias
Platysteira
Batis
Lanioturdus
Platysteiridae is a family of small, stout passerine birds of the African tropics. The family contains the wattle-eyes, batises and shrike-flycatchers. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatchers, Muscicapidae. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush. They hunt by flycatching, or by taking prey from the ground like a shrike. The nest is a small neat cup, placed low in a tree or bush.
The Platysteiridae are arboreal birds, primarily of the woodlands and forests of sub-Saharan Africa. The family is restricted to mainland Africa and its offshore islands. The shrike-flycatchers and genus Dyaphorophyia are inhabitants of dense forest, while the rest of the wattle-eyes are found in woodland, and the batises range across all wooded habitats except the densest forests of the Congo Basin. The pririt and pygmy batis survive in very arid environments with some cover, and the white-fronted wattle-eye favours mangrove forests in Angola. Many species in the family have adapted to human-altered habitats. The family has its highest diversity at equatorial latitudes, with half the known species native to Tanzania and almost half also ranging into the DRC and Kenya.
The family is overwhelmingly sedentary. However, there are a few exceptions; the African shrike-flycatcher is probably an intra-African migrant, as it is seasonally absent from parts of its range. In addition, some batis species undertake seasonal migrations, besides some local movements in response to changing local conditions.
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Wikipedia