Incertae Sedis – Uncertain Families
The rapid and remarkable changes in taxonomy largely due to DNA sequencing has moved many species from one family to another, split families and resurrected others. Nevertheless, some species have yet to ‘find a home’. This page is for those species… hopefully, within a short time this will disappear as authorities agree where these ‘homeless’ species belong in the phylogenetic tree. They are set out in those groups which appear to belong together, wherever that is. The IOC lists just three species in three genera as Incertiaae Sedis 1; they are:
Grauer’s Warbler Graueria vittata
Green Hylia Hylia prasina
Tit Hylia Pholidornis rushiae.
The IOC lists just six species in five genera as Incertiaae Sedis 2; they are:
Green-tailed Warbler Microligea palustris
Yellow-headed Warbler Teretistris fernandinae
Oriente Warbler Teretistris fornsi
Wrenthrush Zeledonia coronata
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
White-winged Warbler Xenoligea montana
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Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
Species AccountSound archive and distribution map. -
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
Species AccountThe yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens) is a large songbird, widely considered the most atypical member of the New World warbler family, though the long-standing suspicion is that it does not actually belong there. Its placement is not definitely resolved. It is the only member of the genus Icteria. -
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
Cornell Species AccountThe Yellow-breasted Chat offers a cascade of song in the spring, when males deliver streams of whistles, cackles, chuckles, and gurgles with the fluidity of improvisational jazz.