{{short description|Family of birds}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = White-crested laughingthrush, St. Louis Zoo.jpg | image_caption = White-crested laughingthrush (''Garrulax leucolophus'') | taxon = Leiothrichidae | authority = Swainson, 1832 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = 17; see article text }}
The '''laughingthrushes''' are a family, '''Leiothrichidae''', of Old World passerine birds. The family contains 143 species and is divided into 17 genera. The species are diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire family used to be included in the Old World babbler family Timaliidae.
==Characteristics== They are small to medium-sized birds. They have strong legs, and many are quite terrestrial. They typically have generalised bills, similar to those of a thrush. Most have predominantly brown plumage, with minimal difference between the sexes, but many more brightly coloured species also exist.<ref name=EoB>{{cite book |editor=Forshaw, Joseph|author= Perrins, C.|year=1991|title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds|publisher= Merehurst Press|location=London|pages= 188–190|isbn= 1-85391-186-0}}</ref>
This group is not strongly migratory, and most species have short rounded wings, and a weak flight. They live in lightly wooded or scrubland environments, ranging from swamp to near-desert. They are primarily insectivorous, although many will also take berries, and the larger species will even eat small lizards and other vertebrates.<ref name=EoB/>
==Taxonomy== The family Leiothrichidae was introduced (as a subfamily Leiotrichanae) by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1832.<ref>{{ cite book | last1=Swainson | first1=William | author1-link=William Swainson | last2=Richardson | first2=J. | author2-link=John Richardson (naturalist) | year=1831 | title=Fauna boreali-americana, or, The zoology of the northern parts of British America | volume=Part 2. The Birds | publisher=J. Murray | place=London | page=490 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41549935 }} The title page bears the year 1831 but the volume did not appear until 1832.</ref> A comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the family published in 2018 led to substantial revision of the taxonomic classification.<ref name=cibois>{{ cite journal | last1=Cibois | first1=A. | last2=Gelang | first2=M. | last3=Alström | first3=P. | last4=Pasquet | first4=E. | last5=Fjeldså | first5=J. | last6=Ericson | first6=P.G.P. | last7=Olsson | first7=U. | year=2018 | title=Comprehensive phylogeny of the laughingthrushes and allies (Aves, Leiothrichidae) and a proposal for a revised taxonomy | journal=Zoologica Scripta | volume=47 | issue=4 | pages=428–440 | doi=10.1111/zsc.12296 }}</ref> The laughingthrushes in the genus ''Garrulax'' were found to belong to three separate clades that had diverged in the Miocene 7–9 million year ago. The genus was therefore split with ''Garrulax'' restricted to one clade and the genera ''Pterorhinus'' and ''Ianthocincla'' resurrected for the other two clades. The genus ''Turdoides'' was also split and species moved into the resurrected genus ''Argya''.<ref name=cibois/><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2021 | title=Laughingthrushes and allies | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/laughingthrushes/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=18 June 2021 }}</ref>
In a separate change, the crocias were moved to the genus ''Laniellus'' Swainson, 1832 which has priority over ''Crocias'' Temminck, 1836.<ref name=ioc/><ref>{{ cite journal | last1=Gregory | first1=S.M.S. | last2=Dickinson | first2=E. | year=2012 | title=An assessment of three little-noticed papers on avian nomenclature by G.N. Kashin during 1978-1982 | journal=Zootaxa | volume=3340 | pages=44–58 [51] | doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3340.1.3 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286020655 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last1=Dickinson | editor-first1=E.C. | editor1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | editor-last2=Christidis | editor-first2=L. | editor2-link=Leslie Christidis | year=2014 | title=The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World | volume=2: Passerines | edition=4th | place=Eastbourne, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-2-2 | page=548 }}</ref>
The cladogram below showing the phylogenetic relationship of the Leiothrichidae to other families is based on a study of the babblers by Tianlong Cai and collaborators published in 2019.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Cai | first1=T. | last2=Cibois | first2=A. | last3=Alström | first3=P. | last4=Moyle | first4=R.G. | last5=Kennedy | first5=J.D. | last6=Shao | first6=S. | last7=Zhang | first7=R. | last8=Irestedt | first8=M. | last9=Ericson | first9=P.G.P. | last10=Gelang | first10=M. | last11=Qu | first11=Y. | last12=Lei | first12=F. | last13=Fjeldså | first13=J. | date=2019 | title=Near-complete phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the world's babblers (Aves: Passeriformes) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=130 | pages=346–356 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.010 | doi-access=free | pmid=30321696 | bibcode=2019MolPE.130..346C }}</ref><ref name=avilist>{{ cite web | author=AviList Core Team | date=2025 | title=AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025 | doi=10.2173/avilist.v2025 | doi-access=free | url=http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ | access-date=23 November 2025 }}</ref>
{{Cladex| style=font-size:90%;line-height:90% |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=Pycnonotidae – bulbuls (161 species) |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Sylviidae – sylviid babblers (32 species) |2=Paradoxornithidae – parrotbills and myzornis (38 species) }} |2={{clade |1=Zosteropidae – white-eyes (147 species) |2={{clade |1=Timaliidae – tree babblers (58 species) |2={{clade |1=Pellorneidae – ground babblers (65 species) |2='''Leiothrichidae''' – laughingthrushes and allies (143 species) }} }} }} }} }} }} }}
The cladogram below shows the phylogenetic relationships between the genera in the family Leiothrichidae based on a study by Alice Cibois and collaborators published in 2018.<ref name=cibois/> {{clade | style=font-size:90%;line-height:90% |label1='''Leiothrichidae''' |1={{clade |1=''Alcippe'' – fulvettas (10 species) |2={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Grammatoptila'' – striated laughingthrush |2={{clade |1=''Cutia'' – cutia (2 species) |2=''Laniellus'' – crocias (2 species) }} }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Trochalopteron'' – laughingthrushes (19 species) |2={{clade |1=''Montecincla'' – laughingthrushes (4 species) |2={{clade |1=''Actinodura'' – barwings (9 species) |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Minla'' – red-tailed minla |2=''Leioptila'' – rufous-backed sibia }} |2={{clade |1=''Leiothrix'' – Leiothrix and mesia (2 species) |2={{clade |1=''Liocichla'' – liocichlas (5 species) |2=''Heterophasia'' – sibias (7 species) }} }} }} }} }} }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Argya'' – babblers (16 species) |2=''Turdoides'' – babblers (19 species) }} |2={{clade |1=''Garrulax'' – laughingthrushes and the hwamei (14 species) |2={{clade |1=''Ianthocincla'' – laughingthrushes (8 species) |2=''Pterorhinus'' – laughingthrushes and babaxes (23 species) }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}
==List of genera== The family contains 143 species in 17 genera:<ref name=avilist/>
* ''Alcippe'' – fulvettas (10 species) * ''Grammatoptila'' – striated laughingthrush * ''Cutia'' – cutias (2 species) * ''Laniellus'' – crocias (2 species) * ''Trochalopteron'' – laughingthrushes (19 species) * ''Actinodura'' – barwings and minlas (9 species) * ''Montecincla'' – laughingthrushes (4 species) * ''Minla'' – red-tailed minla * ''Leioptila'' – rufous-backed sibia * ''Leiothrix'' – (2 species) * ''Liocichla'' – liocichlas (5 species) * ''Heterophasia'' – sibias (7 species) * ''Argya'' – mainly babblers (16 species); previous placed in ''Turdoides'' * ''Turdoides'' – babblers (19 species) * ''Garrulax'' – laughingthrushes (14 species) * ''Ianthocincla'' – laughingthrushes (8 species); previously placed in ''Garrulax'' * ''Pterorhinus'' – laughingthrushes and babaxes (23 species); previously placed in ''Garrulax''
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1951184}}
Category:Leiothrichidae Category:Bird families Category:Sylvioidea Category:Birds of Asia