Thank you all. Chatline is such a reliable platform. I thought somebody would answer my question. I printed the answers for a future reference.
With thanks,
Mariko
On Fri, Jun 19, 2026 at 8:54 AM Andrew Cockburn via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Hi
John is almost correct.There are three early branches of the passerine radiation. The first division is between the New Zealand wrens (of which sadly only two remain) and the rest. These New Zealand wrens are not oscines. The branch that diverged from
the common ancestor of New Zealand wrens and everything else then diverged some time later into the suboscines and the oscines. The oscines are the Australian branch and diversified in Australia for millions of years before they escaped into the rest of the
world. The oscines are also called the songbirds, hence the ‘where song began’ title. Their escape into the rest of the world occurred as Australia drifted north and pushed up the New Guinea islands, and occurred when several groups then moved into Asia
(more than the robin-like birds to which John alludes). The rest is history - the plucky little Australian birds conquered the world. Birds do not fossilize well, but there are extremely good sites in France and germany where the oscines go from nothing
to more than 50% of the bird species in a blink of a stratigraphic eye. The reason for their superiority is not well known, but it may be to do with intellectual sophistication more than anything else. They are one of just a few groups that learn their songs,
which enriches their communication. They also have a curious absence of a functional gene that codes for a protein that stiffens cartilage. This means their syrinx (the vibratory organ in the throat) is much more wobbly than in other birds, and it may enable
the sophistication of their calls and song.
Cheers, Andrew Cockburn
Sent from my iPad
On 19 Jun 2026, at 08:18, calyptorhynchus via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Mariko,
I don't know if anyone has replied to you privately, but I thought that I'd write and tell you what my understanding is, so that people can then correct my understanding!
My understanding is that the passerines in the widest sense originated in the archipelago of islands that was Antarctica, still at that point very near to all the southern continents. The Sub-oscines ('primitive' passerines) then spread to South America
(Tyrant Flycatchers, Antbirds &c), and Africa (Pittas, Broadbills, Asities) (thence to Madagascar, Asia). Of the Oscines proper the NZ Wrens are the basal clade, but whether they originated in Antarctica and spread only to NZ, or spread more widely, but only
survived in NZ, I don't know and perhaps no-one does?
But the Oscines from Lyrebirds and Scrubbirds 'upwards' certainly radiated in Australia first for many millions of years until something like an Australian Robin ancestor spread to se Asia and then the passerines took over the world!
JL
On Thu, 18 Jun 2026 at 17:29, mariko buszynski via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
After reading the book "Where song began " I thought the passerine originated from Australia. Recently I heard the result of a genome study indicates it is New Zealand. Is it true?
Mariko
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