see text The Australasian wrens are a family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea.

The family comprises 32 species (including sixteen fairywrens, three emu-wrens, and thirteen grasswrens) in six genera.

In the late 1960s, morphological studies began to suggest that the Australo-Papuan fairywrens, the grasswrens, emu-wrens and two monotypic wren-like genera from New Guinea were related and, following Charles Sibley's pioneering work on egg-white proteins in the mid-1970s, Australian researchers adopted the family name Maluridae in 1975.

[3][4] Their obvious similarity to the wrens of Europe and America is not genetic, but simply the consequence of convergent evolution between more-or-less unrelated species that share the same ecological niche.

The grasswrens are well camouflaged with black and brown patterns, but other species often have brilliantly coloured plumage, especially in the males.