Songbirds originate in Australia
The perching birds — over half of all living bird species — begin on an isolated southern continent.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 13 million years
- Known to
- ± 5 million years
- Era
- Eocene, Cenozoic
Molecular phylogenies converge on an Australian origin for the passerines, with the oldest branches of the tree found among Australasian lineages such as lyrebirds and treecreepers, and the oscine songbirds — the ones with a complex vocal syrinx — arising there before dispersing through Asia and around the world. It is a striking case of a globally dominant group starting in one isolated place: passerines now make up around 60 per cent of the roughly 10,000 living bird species.