Philippine creeper

The Philippine creepers or rhabdornises are small

passerine birds. They are endemic to the Philippines.
The group contains a single genus Rhabdornis with three
species. They do not migrate, other than to make local
movements.

of Zuccon et al. requires the underlying plesiomorphies

closer to those present in starlings and thrashers than to
those retained in treecreepers and wrens, and vice versa
as regards synapomorphies. This has not been tested; in
the meantime, it may be noted that the color pattern of
There are three species in the single genus Rhabdornis: Rhabdornis is more similar to that of some Aplonis - a
member of the group of starlings supposedly most close
to the Philippine creepers - than to that of treecreepers.
Stripe-headed rhabdornis, stripe-headed rhabdornis
Both Philippine and treecreepers are cryptic in adaptation
or stripe-sided rhabdornis, Rhabdornis mystacalis
to their tree-creeping lifestyle, but this is achieved with
Grand rhabdornis, long-billed rhabdornis or grand a very dierent camouage pattern in either. Additionally, they are very distant even among starlings (Zuccon
rhabdornis, Rhabdornis grandis
et al. 2006: 340) and may in the end be maintained as
Stripe-breasted rhabdornis, plain-headed creeper or a family on their own. The Australian treecreepers (Clistripe-breasted rhabdornis, Rhabdornis inornatus
macteridae), meanwhile, are an entirely unrelated family
of passerine birds which is actually close to bowerbirds
(Ptilonorhynchidae).

Description, systematics and taxonomy

Rhabdornis inornatus
Aplonis tabuensis (Sturnidae)

The Philippine creepers are similar in appearance to

treecreepers (Certhiidae). They have thin pointed downcurved bills, which they can use to extricate insects from
bark, but they have brush-like tongues, which enable
them to also feed on nectar. Their behaviour is said
to resemble that of tits (to which they are certainly not
closely related) more than the treecreepers. Nests are tree
crevices.

Certhia brachydactyla (Certhiidae)

Cormobates leucophaea (Climacteridae)

2 References
Zuccon, Dario; Cibois, Anne; Pasquet, Eric &
Ericson, Per G.P. (2006): Nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data reveal the major lineages
of starlings, mynas and related taxa. Molecular
Phylogenetics and Evolution 41(2): 333-344.

The placement of genus Rhabdornis in a family of its own

(Rhabdornithidae Greenway, 1967) is not accepted by
all authorities, and it is sometimes placed in Certhiidae or
Timaliidae. The German name, Trugbaumlufer (false
treecreepers), reects this uncertainty. More recently,
Zuccon et al. 2006 place them in a basal clade inside
the starlings in the family Sturnidae. Their closest allies seem to be a number of quite plesiomorphic starling
lineages mainly from the Asian-Pacic region (such as
mynas), so this placement is phylogenetically as plausible
as a distinct family. Judging from biogeography alone,
the treecreepers are indeed far less likely to be related to
the Philippine creepers than starlings or timaliids, as neither the Certhiidae nor their close relatives expanded into
the Wallacea whereas the latter did. Note also the general
rarity of small woodpeckers on the Philippines, implying
that any bird lineage that would happen to adapt to the
same ecological niche was likely to be successful.

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.007

PMID

16806992

(HTML abstract)

3 External links
Don Robertsons Bird Families of the World:
Rhabornises. Contains photos of all 3 species. Version of 2006-JAN-25. Retrieved 2007-JUL-20.
Flickr Field Guide: Birds of the World: Photo of
Rhabdornis mystacalis. Retrieved 2007-JUL-19.

Nonetheless, the placement with the starlings requires

conrmation. As notoriously confounded by convergent
evolution as Philippine creeper anatomy is, the scenario
1

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Philippine creeper Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_creeper?oldid=634225635 Contributors: Jimfbleak, JohnCastle,

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