View source for Emu-wren

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic Taxobox
| name = Emu-wrens
| image = StipiturusKeulemans.jpg
| taxon = Stipiturus
| authority = [[René Primevère Lesson|Lesson]], 1831
| type_species = ''[[Southern emu-wren|Muscicapa malachura]]''<ref name=HM4>{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=118 |title= Maluridae |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-16}}</ref>
| type_species_authority = Shaw, 1798
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
* ''S. malachurus''
* ''S. mallee''
* ''S. ruficeps''
}}
The '''emu-wrens''' (''Stipiturus'') are a [[genus]] of [[passerine]] [[bird]]s in the [[Australasian wren]] family, Maluridae. They are found only in [[Australia]], where they inhabit [[scrubland|scrub]], [[heathland]] and [[grassland]]. They are small birds, 12–19&nbsp;cm long with the tail accounting for over half of their length. The tail has only six [[feathers]] which are loose and coarse in structure, rather like the feathers of the [[emu]]. Three species are recognised, of which the [[mallee emu-wren]] is endangered.
==Taxonomy and systematics==
The common name of the genus is derived from the resemblance of their tails to the feathers of an [[emu]].<ref name=EABI>{{cite book |title=Every Australian Bird Illustrated|author=Wade P. ''(ed.)'' |year=1977 |page=188|publisher=Rigby|isbn=978-0-7270-0009-5}}</ref> The genus was defined by French naturalist [[René Primevère Lesson|René Lesson]] in 1831 after his visit to Port Jackson on the 1823-5 voyage of the ''Coquille'', although the southern emu-wren had already been encountered and described soon after European settlement at Sydney Cove.<ref name=row202>Rowley and Russell, p. 202.</ref> The three species have been variously considered as one, two or even four species (as the [[Western Australia]]n subspecies ''westernensis'' of the southern emu-wren also considered a species at one point.<ref name=row203>Rowley and Russell, p. 203.</ref> Their closest relative, based on allozyme studies, appears to be the [[orange-crowned fairywren]] of the monotypic genus ''Clytomyias'' from the mountains of New Guinea.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Christidis L, Schodde R |year=1997|title=Relationships within the Australo-Papuan Fairy-wrens (Aves: Malurinae): an evaluation of the utility of allozyme data |journal=Australian Journal of Zoology |volume=45 |issue=2|pages=113–129 |doi=10.1071/ZO96068 |citeseerx=10.1.1.694.5285}}</ref>
=== Species ===
There are three recognised species in the genus:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2017 | title=Lyrebirds, scrubbirds, bowerbirds & Australasian wrens | work=World Bird List Version 7.3 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/lyrebirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=28 December 2017 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Scientific name !! Common Name !! Distribution
|-
|[[File:Stipiturus malachurus - Southwest National Park.jpg|120px]] || ''Stipiturus malachurus''|| [[Southern emu-wren]] || Coastal south-eastern and south-western Australia.
|-
|[[File:Mallee Emuwren (Stipiturus mallee) (8079650268).jpg|120px]] || ''Stipiturus mallee'' || [[Mallee emu-wren]] ||  Mallee country of north-western [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] and south-eastern [[South Australia]].
|-
|[[File:StipiturusKeulemans.jpg|120px]] || ''Stipiturus ruficeps'' || [[Rufous-crowned emu-wren]] || Arid interior of central-northern Australia.
|-
|}
Ornithologist [[Richard Schodde]] has proposed that the southern emu-wren is the ancestral form from which the other two species have evolved.
==Description==
Emu-wrens exhibit sexual dimorphism, the males have brownish plumage with rufous crowns of varying intensity, and a sky blue throat and upper chest. The females lack the blue coloration and are predominantly reddish brown above and paler below. Their most distinctive feature is their long tails, composed of six filamentous feathers, the central two longer again. The tail is double the body length in the case of the southern and rufous-crowned species. They weigh from 5.4 g in the case of the smallest, the rufous-crowned, to 7.5 g of the southern emu-wren.<ref name=row33>Rowley and Russell, p. 33.</ref>
==Distribution and habitat==
The three species of emu-wrens each live in distinct habitats: the southern emu-wren preferring marshes and heathland, the mallee emu-wren inhabiting spinifex understory in mallee woodland, and the rufous-crowned emu-wren dwelling in spinifex in desert areas.
== Behaviour and ecology ==
Emu-wrens are fairly secretive and hard to spot, living in low shrub cover. They are predominantly insectivorous, but supplement their diet with seeds.<ref name="row202" /><!-- cites para --> Their furtive behaviour and brown colour has resulted in them being mistaken for bush mice.<ref name="EABI" /> They exhibit a weak but distinctive flight pattern with the tail feathers drooping noticeably.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
===Cited text===
*{{cite book |last=Rowley |first=Ian |author2=Russell, Eleanor |title=Bird Families of the World:Fairy-wrens and Grasswrens |year=1997 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-854690-0}}
* Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). ''[[Handbook of the Birds of the World]]''. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. {{ISBN|978-84-96553-42-2}}
*Pizzey, Graham & Knight, Frank (1997) ''The Graham Pizzey & Frank Knight Field Guide to the Birds of Australia'', HarperCollins, London, UK.
{{Malurus}}
{{Passeriformes|Pa.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q964102}}
[[Category:Maluridae]]
[[Category:Endemic birds of Australia]]
[[Category:Taxa named by René Lesson]]
[[Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot]]