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Brian Owens

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Smallest perching bird’s long-lost family revealed by genetics

Brian Owens · April 27, 2016 ·

The pygmy bushtit’s diminutive size makes it a superlative species, and it has a genus all to itself. But now genetics is showing that it’s not so special after all.

The pygmy bushtit isn’t much to look at. It’s an inconspicuous dull grey, but it is absolutely tiny. So small in fact, that it is the smallest member of the Passeriformes, or perching birds, an order that encompasses more than half of all bird species including sparrows, finches and chickadees. Read more in New Scientist.

New Scientist ecology, evolution, genetics, pygmy bushtit

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