{{Short description|New World group of passerine birds}} {{Other uses}} {{Distinguish|Thresher (disambiguation){{!}}Thresher}} {{Missing information|: More content on the behavior of these birds is needed, as their behavior seems to be their defining trait and claim to significance in the ornithological community.|date=February 2020}} {{Paraphyletic group | name = Thrashers | image = Brown Thrasher-27527-2.jpg | image_caption = Brown thrasher<br/>''Toxostoma rufum'' | auto = yes | parent = Mimidae | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = ''Allenia''<br> ''Margarops''<br> ''Oreoscoptes''<br> ''Ramphocinclus''<br> ''Toxostoma'' }}
'''Thrashers''' are a paraphyletic group of New World passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genera.
The thrashers do not form a monophyletic clade but are a phenetic assemblage within the family Mimidae. The Mimidae as a whole is made up of two clades, the larger of which contains the ''Toxostoma'' thrashers and the monotypic genus ''Oreoscoptes'', and the smaller of which contains the ''Ramphocinclus'', ''Allenia'', and ''Margarops'' thrashers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Lovette |first=Irby J. |last2=Arbogast |first2=Brian S. |last3=Curry |first3=Robert L. |last4=Zink |first4=Robert M. |last5=Botero |first5=Carlos A. |last6=Sullivan |first6=John P. |last7=Talaba |first7=Amanda L. |last8=Harris |first8=Rebecca B. |last9=Rubenstein |first9=Dustin R. |last10=Ricklefs |first10=Robert E. |last11=Bermingham |first11=Eldredge |date=May 2012 |title=Phylogenetic relationships of the mockingbirds and thrashers (Aves: Mimidae) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1055790311003320 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |language=en |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=219–229 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2011.07.009|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the larger clade, ''Toxostoma'' is sister to all other lineages, with ''Oreoscoptes'' sister to ''Mimus'' mockingbirds.<ref name=":0" /> Within the smaller clade, ''Ramphocinclus'' is most closely related to the gray catbird, ''Dumetella carolinensis'', while ''Allenia'' is sister to a clade composed of ''Margarops'' and the tremblers, genus ''Cinclocerthia''.<ref name=":0" />
Their common name describes the behaviour of these birds when searching for food on the ground: they use their long bills to "thrash" through dirt or dead leaves. All of these birds eat insects and several species also eat berries.
==Taxonomic list== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Genus !! Living species |- |150px |''Oreoscoptes'' {{small|Baird, 1858}} | * Sage thrasher, ''Oreoscoptes montanus'' |- |150px |''Toxostoma'' {{small|Wagler, 1831}} – typical thrashers | * Brown thrasher, ''Toxostoma rufum'' * Long-billed thrasher, ''Toxostoma longirostre'' * Cozumel thrasher, ''Toxostoma guttatum'' – possibly extinct (2006?) * Grey thrasher, ''Toxostoma cinereum'' * Bendire's thrasher, ''Toxostoma bendirei'' * Ocellated thrasher, ''Toxostoma ocellatum'' * Curve-billed thrasher, ''Toxostoma curvirostre'' * California thrasher, ''Toxostoma redivivum'' * Crissal thrasher, ''Toxostoma crissale'' * LeConte's thrasher, ''Toxostoma lecontei'' |- |150px |''Ramphocinclus'' {{small|Lafresnaye, 1843}} | * White-breasted thrasher, ''Ramphocinclus brachyurus'' |- |150px |''Allenia'' {{small|Cory, 1891}} | * Scaly-breasted thrasher, ''Allenia fusca'' ** Barbados scaly-breasted thrasher, ''Allenia fusca atlantica'' – extinct (c. 1990) |- |150px |''Margarops '' {{small|P.L. Sclater, 1859}} | * Pearly-eyed thrasher, ''Margarops fuscatus'' |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}} * '''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. <small>{{doi|10.1111/j.0908-8857.2004.03233.x}}</small> (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. <small>DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118[0035:MSABOA]2.0.CO;2</small> [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200101/ai_n8930531 HTML fulltext without images]
==External links== *[http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/mockingbirds-thrashers-mimidae Thrasher videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
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Category:Mimidae Category:Thrashers * Category:Bird common names