Prunellidae Accentors
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Introduction
The accentors are mostly birds of high-mountain meadows, fell fields, scrublands, and forest habitats far more extreme than the gardens and hedgerows occupied by their low-altitude cousin the Dunnock. Details are sparse, but available data indicate that the mating systems of the high-altitude accentors may be just as variable and intriguing as that of the Dunnock; one of the world’s plainest birds to look at, it has every mating system known in passerines in a single species. This mating system (or systems!), in which males compete for mating opportunities with females and females compete for parental care from males, is a wonderful contrast to those of virtually all other passerine groups and a laboratory for understanding sexual selection in sexually monomorphic birds.
Habitat
Most accentors breed in montane environments, either above treeline or in high-elevation scrubby woodlands just below treeline. Only the Dunnock Prunella modularis breeds in lower-elevation habitats, including gardens, woodlands, and agricultural areas. During the non-breeding season, many other species of accentors descend to lower elevations.
Diet and Foraging
Accentors forage primarily on the ground, shuffling along with steps or short hops and pecking in rapid succession at the ground. During the breeding season, they feed mostly on insects, even occasionally sallying after insects flying by. Montane species include seeds in their diets all year, and they and the Dunnock shift almost entirely to seeds in the non-breeding season.
Breeding
The breeding systems of the accentors are very complex. The Dunnock alone has been documented as having monogamous, polygynous, polyandrous, and polygynandrous mating systems, all in one study area; the mating system depends on food availability and female territory size and is driven by both male competition over fertilizations and female competition over male parental care. The Alpine Accentor P. collaris is thought to be polygynandrous, with females mating with multiple males who in turn mate with multiple females. Although the mating systems of other species are not well known, they appear to be similar. Accentor nests are relatively simple cups built of grasses, moss, and rootlets, usually placed in a rock crevice, on the ground, under a bush, or in a low shrub. Females typically lay 2 to 5 eggs. Females are responsible for nest construction and incubation, and males that have fathered chicks in a brood generally help provision them. Incubation takes 10 to 15 days, and the chicks leave the nest after 10 to 15 days as nestlings.
Conservation Status
Living most often in mountain areas remote from human development, prunellid populations are generally in good shape, and only a single species (7%) is of conservation concern (1 NT). Although it has a stable population, the Yemen Accentor P. fagani is known to breed in only six localities in the Arabian Mountains. These areas of relatively high rainfall have been intensively cultivated by humans for millennia, and the accentor’s populations would be endangered if anything changed human use of the habitat in the future.
Systematics History
Prunellidae is part of the passeroid radiation of the oscine passerines, although its position within Superfamily Passeroidea is still not fully resolved. In the past, Prunellidae had been allied with many different passerine groups, including Timaliidae and Sylviidae (both with their larger more inclusive memberships), as well as Fringillidae, Turdidae, and Cinclidae. Molecular phylogenetic studies firmly support the placement of Prunellidae within the passeroid radiation and have suggested that Prunellidae is most likely sister to Peucedramidae (Ericson & Johansson 2003). When Peucedramidae is not included in the analysis, Prunellidae looks to be sister to a diverse clade that includes Ploceidae, Motacillidae, Estrildidae, Passeridae, Fringillidae, and the New World nine-primaried oscine radiation (Beresford et al. 2005, Johansson et al. 2008b, Fjeldså et al. 2010), or to the same group without Estrildidae and Ploceidae (Treplin et al. 2008).
Conservation Status
Least Concern |
100%
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Near Threatened |
0%
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Vulnerable |
0%
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Endangered |
0%
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Critically Endangered |
0%
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Extinct in the Wild |
0%
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Extinct |
0%
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Not Evaluated |
0%
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Data Deficient |
0%
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Unknown |
0%
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Data provided by IUCN (2023) Red List. More information