Timalien
In 2003, a study of Timaliidae relationships (Cibois 2003a) using mtDNA cytochrome "b" and 12S/16S rRNA data indicated that the Sylviidae and Old World babblers were not reciprocally monophyletic to each other. Moreover, "Sylvia", the type genus of the Sylviidae, turned out to be closer to taxa such as the yellow-eyed babbler ("Chrysomma sinense") (traditionally held to be an atypical timaliid) and the wrentit ("Chamaea fasciata"), an enigmatic species generally held to be the only American Old World babbler. The parrotbills, formerly considered a family Paradoxornithidae (roughly, "puzzling birds") of unclear affiliations also were part of what apparently was a well distinctive clade.