Trembler
| Tremblers | |
|---|---|
| |
| Brown trembler | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Mimidae |
| Genus: | Cinclocerthia G.R. Gray, 1840 |
| Species | |
|
Cinclocerthia gutturalis | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Buleites Gistl, 1848 | |
Tremblers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the Mimidae family. There are 2-4 species in one genus, Cinclocerthia:
- Grey trembler (Martinique trembler), Cinclocerthia (gutturalis) gutturalis
- Saint Lucia trembler, Cinclocerthia (gutturalis) macrorhyncha
- (Southern) brown trembler, Cinclocerthia (ruficauda) ruficauda
- Northern brown trembler, Cinclocerthia (ruficauda) tremula
Among the living birds, they are apparently most closely related to the pearly-eyed thrasher.[1]
Their common name comes from their peculiar behavior: if excited, they will show a much more exaggerated version of the wing-flicking also seen in other mimids, for example the northern mockingbirds. The tremblers do not just flick their wings, but shake their entire bodies in a trembling motion.
Footnotes
- ^ Hunt et al. (2001), Barber et al. (2004)
References
Media related to Cinclocerthia at Wikimedia Commons
- Barber, Brian R.; Martínez-Gómez, Juan E. & Peterson, A. Townsend (2004): Systematic position of the Socorro mockingbird Mimodes graysoni. J. Avian Biol. 35: 195-198. doi:10.1111/j.0908-8857.2004.03233.x (HTML abstract)
- Hunt, Jeffrey S.; Bermingham, Eldredge; & Ricklefs, Robert E. (2001): Molecular systematics and biogeography of Antillean thrashers, tremblers, and mockingbirds (Aves: Mimidae). Auk 118(1): 35–55. DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118[0035:MSABOA]2.0.CO;2 HTML fulltext without images