= Acanthisittidae
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<Acanthisittidae> is the New Zealand wren family, a major branch of <Passeriformes> distinct from both <Tyranni> and the <songbirds> of <Passeri>. The <rifleman (bird)> is one representative. The familiar word “wren” is not by itself evidence that these birds belong with every other small bird given that common name.<Earth history and the passerine superradiation>[Results, three principal passerine branches]{ref}
The <rifleman (bird)> searches trunks and branches for small invertebrates and makes short flights between feeding sites. Such observations describe how a living member uses its environment; they are a different kind of evidence from the <DNA> comparisons used to establish the family's evolutionary position.<Rifleman in New Zealand Birds Online>[identification and behaviour/ecology]{ref}
A useful classification test therefore asks two separate questions: does another bird share a similar body shape or feeding habit, and does it share the ancestry indicated by a <phylogenetic tree>? Similar ecological demands can produce similar appearances in different branches. Broad genomic sampling places <Acanthisittidae> in the passerine tree without defining the group merely by small size, a short tail or an English common name.
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