Trembler

Trembler
Tremblers
Brown Trembler
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Mimidae
Genus: Cinclocerthia
G.R. Gray, 1840
Species

Cinclocerthia gutturalis
Cinclocerthia ruficauda
(but see text)

Synonyms

Buleites Gistl, 1848
Stenorhynchus Gould, 1838 (non Lamarck, 1818: preoccupied)

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

  1. ^ 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