Tyrant Flycatchers
Tyrannidae
The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) comprise a family of passerine birds which is found virtually throughout North and South America. It is the world's largest family of birds, with more than 400 species, and is the most diverse avian family in every country in the Americas, except for the United States and Canada. The members vary greatly in shape, patterns, size, and colors. Some tyrant flycatchers may superficially resemble the Old World flycatchers, which they are named after but are not closely related to. The Tyrannidae is a member of suborder Tyranni (suboscines), a group that lacks the sophisticated vocal capabilities of the songbirds (oscines).
A number of species previously included in this family are now placed in the family Tityridae (see Systematics). Sibley and Alquist in their 1990 bird taxonomy had the genera Mionectes, Leptopogon, Pseudotriccus, Poecilotriccus, Taenotriccus, Hemitriccus, Todirostrum and Corythopis as a separate family Pipromorphidae, but although it is still thought that these genera are basal to most of the family, they are not each other's closest relatives.
60 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 442 known species
Kingbirds
genusTyrannus
Phoebes
genusSayornis
Empidonax Flycatchers
genusEmpidonax
Pyrocephalus
genusPyrocephalus
Myiarchus Flycatchers
genusMyiarchus
Pewees
genusContopus
Great Kiskadees
genusPitangus
Myiozetetes Flycatchers
genusMyiozetetes
Typical Elaenias
genusElaenia
Myiodynastes Flycatchers
genusMyiodynastes
Machetornis
genusMachetornis
Water-Tyrants
genusFluvicola
Todirostrum Tody-Flycatchers
genusTodirostrum
Megarynchus
genusMegarynchus
Riverine Tyrannulets and Allies
genusSerpophaga
Beardless-Tyrannulets
genusCamptostoma
Hymenops
genusHymenops
Ground-Tyrants
genusMuscisaxicola
Tolmomyias Flatbills
genusTolmomyias
Variegated and Crowned Slaty Flycatchers
genusEmpidonomus
Xolmis
genusXolmis
Negritos
genusLessonia
Black-Tyrants
genusKnipolegus
Typical Tit-Tyrants
genusAnairetes
Zimmerius Tyrannulets
genusZimmerius
Pyrope
genusPyrope
Mionectes Flycatchers
genusMionectes
Shrike-Tyrants
genusAgriornis
Myiophobus Flycatchers
genusMyiophobus
Arundinicola
genusArundinicola
Attilas
genusAttila
Hirundinea
genusHirundinea
Tody-Tyrants and Bamboo-Tyrants
genusHemitriccus
Colonia
genusColonia
Myiopagis Elaenias
genusMyiopagis
Typical Chat-Tyrants
genusOchthoeca
Leptopogon Flycatchers
genusLeptopogon
Tufted Flycatchers
genusMitrephanes
Legatus
genusLegatus
Tachuris
genusTachuris
Pyrrhomyias
genusPyrrhomyias
Andean Tyrannulets
genusMecocerculus
Philohydor
genusPhilohydor
Satrapa
genusSatrapa
Short-billed Tyrannulets
genusPhyllomyias
Long-tailed Tyrannulets
genusPhylloscartes
Doraditos
genusPseudocolopteryx
Poecilotriccus Tody-Flycatchers
genusPoecilotriccus
Spadebills
genusPlatyrinchus
Nengetus
genusNengetus
Rhytipterna Mourners
genusRhytipterna
Suiriri
genusSuiriri
Mouse-colored Tyrannulets
genusNesotriccus
Neoxolmis
genusNeoxolmis
Tyrannulus
genusTyrannulus
Myiornis Pygmy-Tyrants
genusMyiornis
Capsiempis
genusCapsiempis
Mionectine Flatbills
genusRhynchocyclus
Typical Bush-Tyrants
genusMyiotheretes
Myiotriccus
genusMyiotriccus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Tyrannidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 980017.