On June 22 2019 the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) released the latest version of its world bird list (v 9.2):

Gill, F & D Donsker (Eds). 2019. IOC World Bird List (v 9.2). doi :  10.14344/IOC.ML.9.2.

The IOC bird list is hosted on a dedicated World Bird Names website, which provides access to the list in various different formats. The list is updated twice a year, in January and June.

The Non-Passerine Orders of bird families have been resequenced in release v 9.2 of the IOC birdlist. Here is an overview:

At the top of the list, the Paleognathae taxon of orders (Ostriches to Tinamous) remains unchanged.

At the foot of the Non-Passerines list, PICIFORMES to PSITTACIFORMES (Jacamars to Old World Parrots) remains unchanged, except for the inclusion of CARIAMIFORMES (Seriemas).

Between these two markers there has been a major upheaval, with APODIFORMES (for example), which includes Swifts and Hummingbirds, now considered to be evolved from a much older lineage, while ACCIPTRIFORMES (Vultures, Eagles, Buzzards etc.) and STRIGIFORMES (Owls) have been moved down the list as being more recently evolved Non-Passerine bird families.

One way to see the effect of these changes is to download one of the v 9.2 spreadsheets from the IOC website and set up a filter on the Rank column. Then remove the subspecies, species and genus rows from this filter to leave just taxons, orders and families.

OR … you can view a summary of the new sequence of Non-Passerine orders on the ATWB website by clicking here.

The details of other changes in the v 9.2 release can be found by clicking on the Updates tab on the IOC website. Here is a summary of the major amendments:

New to science

Oreotrochilus Hummingbirds  +1 species  Blue-throated Hillstar

Pycnonotus Bulbuls  +1 species  Cream-eyed Bulbul

Splits

Melanitta Ducks (Scoters)  +1 species

Cypsiurus Swifts  +1 species

Oreotrochilus Hummingbirds (Hillstars) +1 species

Gelochelidon Terns  +1 species

Coracias Rollers  +1 species

Xiphorhynchus Ovenbirds (Woodcreepers)  +1

Elaenia Tyrant Flycatchers (Elaenias)  +1

Pachycephala Whistlers +1 and Colluricincla Shrikethrushes  +6

Zosterops White-eyes  +2

Polioptila Gnatcatchers  +1

Turdus Thrushes  +2

Cyornis Blue Flycatchers  +2

Anthus Pipits  +1

Deletions

Schoutedenapus Swift  -1  [Schouteden’s Swift]

Lumps

Falco Falcons  -1  [Barbary Falcon]

Epinecrophylla Antwrens  -2  [Napo Stipple-throated Antwren, Yasuni Antwren]

Revision and resequencing of families

The Eurylaimidae family (Broadbills) has been revised, resequenced and split into three:

Family: Eurylaimidae – Typical Broadbills

Family: Philepittidae – Asities [e Madagascar]

Family: Calyptomenidae – African and Green Broadbills

The Australasian Robins family Petroicidae has been revised and resequenced.

Crested Shriketit, formerly ascribed to family Pachycephalidae (Whistlers & Allies) has been moved to a new monospecific family Falcunculidae.

The Incertae Sedis grouping of three unplaced African species has been resolved. One species [Grauer’s Warbler] has been ascribed to family Acrocephalidae (Reed Warblers & Allies), with the remaining two species forming a new family Hyliidae (Hylias).

In the IOC bird list there are now 10758 extant species (net +20) ascribed to 249 families.

All these changes will be reflected in the 2020 editions of the ATWB Companion Guides. These editions will start to be released during August 2019.

To see all the currently available titles in the ‘All the World’s Birds’ series, search in the Books section of your local Amazon site for ATWB. Or, click here to see all ATWB titles on Amazon US; or here to see all ATWB titles on Amazon UK.

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Some details …

Each of the ATWB Companion Guides has a number of important features, including:

– A complete taxonomic listing of bird species

– An indication of where each bird family and species can be found in its native state

– Spotlighted species that have a restricted regional or worldwide range

However, perhaps the key feature of all eBooks in the Companion Guide series is the way you can quickly and simply access relevant, up to date online information about every featured bird species. If your reading device is connected to the internet, a single click will take you to a search results page for a species, from where you can continue to search for additional information to whatever level of detail you desire.

The ‘All the World’s Birds’ series of Companion Guides derives its taxonomy, English names and scientific names from The IOC World Bird List, an open access resource maintained by the International Ornithological Congress (IOC). The IOC bird list is hosted on a dedicated World Bird Names website, which provides access to the list in various different formats. The version of the IOC bird list used in the ‘All the World’s Birds 2019’ series of Companion Guides is Version 8.2, published June 27 2018.

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