[5] Bushshrikes, helmetshrikes (Prionopidae), ioras (Aegithinidae), vangas (Vangidae) and the Australian butcherbirds, magpies and currawongs (Cracticidae) and woodswallows (Artamidae) are part of a large group of shrike-like birds distributed from Africa to Australia, which have been defined as the superfamily Malaconotoidea by Cacraft and colleagues in 2004.

[6] Previously, bushshrikes and helmetshrikes have been considered part of the Old World shrike family, Laniidae, based on shared characteristics including a hooked bill.

[7] However, analysis of behavioral and molecular characteristics places Malaconotidae closer to Platysteiridae and Vangidae, suggesting that the birds of the family Laniidae are only distant relatives.

[8] An intron-comparison study by Fuchs et al. in 2004 provided strong support for the monophyly of the Malaconotidae, but the relationships between the genera of the family remain unclear.

[7] The genus Nilaus is morphologically more similar to Prionopidae than the rest of the bushshrike family is,[8] but the results presented by Fuchs et al. place it within Malaconotidae.

[7] Strong evidence exists for the monophyly of the genus Laniarius, and Fuchs et al. suggest its closest relatives are the genera Telophorous and Rhodophoneus, but the exact relationships are unclear.

[5] Some species have been known to inhabit coffee plantations,[11] or subsist in sacred groves where riparian vegetation is informally protected from shifting cultivation.