The “Hispaniolan tanagers” are newly recognized family of songbirds endemic to Hispaniola.  They were formerly classified as atypical tanagers and wood warblers (i.e., as members of the Thraupidae and Parulidae), but have been reclassified as a separate family based on genetic studies that have shown that this group represents a single evolutionary branch that diverged from other branches more than twelve million years ago.

The Phaenicophilidae comprise four species that fall into two pairs: the palm-tanagers (Phaenicophilus) and two single-species genera (Xenoligea and Microligea) that were formerly classified as wood warblers.  As a group, they do not exhibit any visibly distinctive family trait.  The palm-tanagers are large and robust with heavy bills, and the warbler pair look and behave much like wood warblers.  All four species share roughly the same palette of olive, gray, black, and white plumage and black-and-gray bills.