Acanthis
Well-known member
What are people's thoughts on Xenops being in its own family and 1 vs 3 families of New World Barbet (e.g. Ramphastidae, Semniornithidae, and Capitonidae)?
Olson in his New World Suboscine classification paper proposed recognizing Xenops in its own family, but the divergence time between it and other ovenbirds seems much younger in that study than other family level divergences. I know since SACC split up the barbets that the default position for them is 3 families, but the divergences between these seem much younger than between other members of Piciformes.
I keep going back and forth, and with my return from Panama soon I will need to make a decision for my own listing purposes!
A practical though unsatisfying solution is to use a single column for families, subfamilies and even some tribes. Very useful for groups like the Furnariids and Tyrannids IME.