Family STURNIDAE Rafinesque, 1815

Museums

Regional Maps

• Sturnidae Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organises. Palermo (Italy) : Privately Published 224 pp. [Date published April to July].

  Type genus:

   Sturnus Linnaeus, 1758.

Introduction

One hundred and fifteen species of starlings occur naturally across the Old World. These are divided among some 25 recognised genera (Dickinson 2003). The centre of distribution appears to be Africa and Asia. In Australasia only one genus, Aplonis, is native to Australia where it has been represented by two species — A. metallica and A. fusca (Christidis & Boles 1994). The former occurs along the Queensland east coast south to Mackay and the latter is a now extinct form that occurred formerly on both Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.

Two introduced species, the Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris (from European populations) and the Common Myna or Indian Myna, Acridotheres tristis, now occur throughout south-eastern Australia and in Tasmania. Birds spreading to Western Australia are destroyed as they arrive. Indian Mynas are native to South-east Asia and were introduced to Australia initially to assist control of insect pests in agriculture. From there populations have expanded throughout south-eastern Australia and north-eastern Queensland. Three other species have been recorded as straying birds, originating in South-east Asia: the Pale-bellied Myna, A. cinereus, the Hill Myna, Gracula religiosa, and the Rosy Starling, S. roseus.

All starlings are gregarious, occurring in large flocks during the cooler months and loose associations during warmer periods. They are primarily terrestrial feeders taking both seeds and invertebrates by gleaning and probing. At times they are arboreal seeking invertebrates among leaves and flowers where they will also take nectar.

Common Starlings inhabit a wide variety of areas that includes alpine meadows, thickets and shrubland, chenopodiaceous steppe, woodlands, human habitation, lignum, mallee, rainforests, and tussock grassland. Whereas the native Metallic Starling is found in tropical forests, human habitation and woodland environments. Common (Indian) Mynas are associated with human habitation and agricultural areas.

All species breed during spring and summer. The single native species constructs a large domed nest of tendril creepers lined with leaves and fibres. It has a side entrance and is suspended from a tree limb, usually at the edge of forest, but also often in urban street trees. The eggs, usually three or four, are pale bluish-white and, mainly about the larger end, spotted reddish brown and purple-grey. Both introduced species construct untidy nests in tree or building crevices. Egg numbers vary from four to seven per clutch. These have a variable blue base colour and are otherwise unmarked.

Excluded Taxa

Vagrant Species

CAVS:8087
STURNIDAE: Agropsar philippensis (Forster, 1781) [Chestnut-cheeked Starling]

CAVS:0736
STURNIDAE: Agropsar sturninus (Pallas, 1776) [Purple-backed Starling; vagrant from South-East Asia to Christmas Island] — 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.

Sturnus sturninus Pallas, 1776

CAVS:9953
STURNIDAE: Pastor roseus (Linnaeus, 1758) [Rosy Starling] — Clayton, M., Wombey, J.C., Mason, I.J., Chesser, R.T. & Wells, A. 2006. CSIRO List of Australian Vertebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing iv 162 pp.

Diagnosis

'… fully double humeral fossa (Bock 1962), a wide pessulus separating cartilaginous elements in the syrinx (Warner 1972; Lanyon in Sibley & Ahlquist 1990: 639), muscle pattern of the jaw and structure of bill and palate, including usually doubled ectethmoid foramina and back-sloped medial palatine plate without medial palatine processes (Beecher 1953)' (Schodde & Mason 1999).

Diagnosis References

Beecher, W.J. 1953. A phylogeny of theoscines. Auk 70: 67-73

Bock, W.J. 1962. The pneumatic fossa of the humerus in the Passeres. Auk 79: 425-443

Lanyon, S.M. in Sibley, C.G. & Ahlquist, J.E. 1990. Phylogeny and Classification of Birds. A Study in Molecular Evolution. New Haven : Yale University Press.

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.

Warner, R.W. 1972. The anatomy of the syrinx in passerine birds. Journal of Zoology, London 168: 381-393

History of changes