Family MOTACILLIDAE Horsfield, 1821

Museums

Regional Maps

• Motacillidae Horsfield, T. 1821. Zoological Researches in Java and the neighbouring islands. London.

  Type genus:

   Motacilla Linnaeus, 1758.

Introduction

Motacillidae, or pipits and wagtails, are a large polyphyletic family with 64 species in five genera. Their centre of distribution is Afro-Asian although they have a cosmopolitan distribution in grassland areas except for many of the Pacific islands (Dickinson 2003). Australia has one endemic species of pipit (Anthus) and it has four local ultrataxa. The Australian Pipit (A. australis) is widespread across the Australian mainland and in Tasmania. Two genera are recorded from Australia. One genus, the wagtail (Motacilla), represented by three species, is known only as intermittent migrants although some species are becoming regular migrants. Other pipits have occasionally been recorded, again as occasional migrants; neither the wagtails nor these exotic pipits has established breeding populations in Australia.

All motacillids are primarily terrestrial and share a similar feeding behaviour of pursuit of flying invertebrates by hawking and snatching through flight, and by running. Their long tarsi and running ability allows them to exist within Australian grasslands and similar low vegetation as diverse as alpine meadows to chenopodiaceous steppes, low heaths and parkland. They occupy such habitats from coastal situations to the arid interior. All species occur singly or in pairs, although on occasion they can be found in aggregations.

Nests are placed under grass tussocks and are small well-camouflaged cup-shaped structures. These are made from grass and other fine vegetation, and lined with finer material and feathers. Normally there are two or three eggs per clutch. These have a base colour of off white and are marked overall by fine dots or spots of reddish brown or purplish grey.

Excluded Taxa

Vagrant Species

CAVS:9909
MOTACILLIDAE: Anthus (Anthus) gustavi gustavi Swinhoe, 1863 [vagrant to the Territory of Ashmore & Cartier Islands]

CAVS:0758
MOTACILLIDAE: Anthus (Anthus) gustavi Swinhoe, 1863 [Pechora Pipit; vagrant to the Territory of Ashmore & Cartier Islands] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [40, 212, 213]

CAVS:0766
MOTACILLIDAE: Anthus (Leimoniptera) cervinus (Pallas, 1811) [Red-throated Pipit] — Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. (common name reference); Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [40, 212, 213]

CAVS:9909
MOTACILLIDAE: Anthus gustavi Swinhoe, 1863 [Pechora Pipit] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [40, 212, 213] (vagrant to Ashmore Reef)

CAVS:9943
MOTACILLIDAE: Dendronanthus indicus (Gmelin, 1789) [Forest Wagtail; vagrant to Christmas Island, single record from NT MacDonnell Ranges (MAC). Also found in Russian Far East, India, China, SE Asia.] — Jerram, M 2013-05-05. Northern Territory Top End Birdfinder. http://www.topendbirdfinder.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/and-week-belongs-tocentral-australia.html (date accessed: 2015-11-03)

CAVS:0876
MOTACILLIDAE: Motacilla (Budytes) citreola Pallas, 1776 [Citrine Wagtail; rare accidental vagrant in Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia); identity of visiting subspecies not established] — Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp.; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [213]

CAVS:8064
MOTACILLIDAE: Motacilla alba leucopsis Gould, 1838 [Central Asian White Wagtail]

CAVS:8065
MOTACILLIDAE: Motacilla alba lugens Gloger, 1829 [Southern White Wagtail]

CAVS:8063
MOTACILLIDAE: Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 [White Wagtail]

CAVS:8066
MOTACILLIDAE: Motacilla alba ocularis Linnaeus, 1758 [Eastern White Wagtail]

Diagnosis

'Unlike larks, they have a conventional passerine pessulus in the syrinx, effectively 9-primaried wings, and acutiplantar tarsi inn which with the back-sides are covered by an unbroken sheath and the acrotarsium by fused scutes. They also have a fully double humeral fossa, thin ectethmoids, clavately tipped maxillo-palatine processes, fully perforate naris and a more conventional temporal region in the cranium.'

Diagnosis References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp.

General References

Dickinson, E.C. (ed.) 2003. The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. London : Christopher Helm 1039 pp.

History of changes