Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a family, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks.

[5] The family Pardalotidae (as a subfamily Pardalotinae) was introduced in 1842 by the English naturalist Hugh Strickland.

The placement of the genus has varied, being first placed with the mostly oriental flowerpeckers (Dicaeidae), as both groups are dumpy-looking birds with bright plumage.

The spotted pardalote has three subspecies,[9] one of which—the yellow-rumped pardalote—is sometimes treated as a separate species due to its distinctive plumage and call and lack of zone of hybridization in southwestern Australia.

While they may occur in forests and woodlands dominated by other tree types, these are marginal habitats for the family and are seldom used.

They will occasionally consume some plant materials including seeds, and there has been an observation of one striated pardalote beating and then eating a lizard.

Spotted and Striated Pardalotes move from higher altitude forests to lower rainfall inland plains in SE Australia.

Forty-spotted Pardalotes are probably sedentary with local seasonal movements restricted to eastern Tasmania and its adjacent islands.

The Striated, Spotted and Red-browed Pardalotes are widespread and common but their populations are decreasing due to habitat loss.

The distribution of the Forty-spotted Pardalote is restricted to a narrow habitat range and the population is small and fragmented.

[14] Threats include habitat loss, competition with colonial honeyeaters, especially the Noisy Miner, and parasitism.

Reductions in the distribution of the Striated Pardalote in the Western Australian wheatbelt are predicted due to climate change.