This article is one of a series providing information about
endemism among birds in the world's various zoogeographic zones. For an overview of this subject see
Endemism in birds.
Patterns of endemism
This region is notable not just for the high number of endemic species, but for endemism in higher-level taxonomic groupings too.
Order-level endemism
Two
orders are endemic to Madagascar or the wider region:
Mesites are placed within the Mesitornithiformes, an order containing three
species in two
genera.
The
cuckoo-roller is placed in the
monotypic order Leptosomiformes. It is endemic to the wider region, as its single species is present on both Madagascar and
Comores.
Family-level endemism
The following three
families are endemic to Madagascar:
Malagasy Warblers, a passerine family within the Old World
oscines, containing eleven species in eight genera.
One other family is endemic to the wider region:
The
vangas, an oscine passerine family, containing sixteen species in eleven genera are endemic to the region. All but one species are confined to Madagascar, the sole exception being the
Comoro blue vanga, restricted to Comores.
Subfamily-level endemism
The nine species of
coua (genus Coua, a
subfamily of the
cuckoos) are all Madagascan endemics.
the rock-thrushes, Monticola, in which three of the 13 species are endemic to Madagascar (these three are sometimes separated into their own genus, Pseudocossyphus).
Endemic Bird Areas
In Madagascar, the total wealth of known terrestrial is about 5,800 species (and 2,500 pending description), and 86percent are endemic to the island.