Old World warbler

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family

Megaluridae. In addition some species have been moved into existing families or have not yet had their placement fully resolved. Only a small number of warblers, in just two genera, are now retained in the family Sylviidae
.

Characteristics

Most Old World warblers are of generally undistinguished appearance, though some species are boldly marked. The sexes are often identical, but may be clearly distinct, notably in the genera

Sylvia and Curruca. They are of small to medium size, varying from 9 to 20 centimetres in length, with a slender, finely pointed bill. Almost all species are primarily insectivorous, although many will also eat soft fruit, nectar, or tiny seeds.[1]

The majority of species are

cup-shaped nests in dense vegetation. They lay between two and six eggs per clutch, depending on species. Both parents typically help in raising the young, which are able to fly at around two weeks of age.[2]

Systematics

In the late 20th century, the Sylviidae were thought to unite nearly 300 small

American Ornithologists' Union then also included the gnatcatchers, as subfamily Polioptilinae, in the Sylviidae.[4]

Sibley & Ahlquist (1990) united the "Old World warblers" with the babblers and other

form taxon which collected unrelated songbirds. Consequently, the monophyly
of the individual "songster" lineages themselves was increasingly being questioned.

More recently, analysis of

DNA sequence data has provided information on the Sylvioidea. Usually, the scope of the clade was underestimated and only one or two specimens were sampled for each presumed "family". Minor or little-known groups such as the parrotbills were left out entirely (e.g. Ericson & Johansson 2003, Barker et al. 2004). These could only confirm that the Cisticolidae were indeed distinct, and suggested that bulbuls
(Pycnonotidae) were apparently the closest relatives of a group containing Sylviidae, Timaliidae, cisticolids and white-eyes.

In 2003, a study of Timaliidae relationships (Cibois 2003a) using

Paradoxornithidae (roughly, "puzzling birds") of then unclear affiliations also were part of what apparently was a well distinctive clade
.

Cibois suggested that the Sylviidae should officially be suppressed by the

Megaluridae, this last turning out to be a synonym of the older-published Locustellidae) to better reflect the evolutionary
history of the sylvioid group.

Species

Family Sylviidae sensu stricto

Typical warblers (or sylviid warblers). A fairly diverse group of smallish taxa with longish tails, now containing 33 species in two genera. Mostly in Europe and the Mediterranean region, with a few extending to central Asia and in tropical Africa.

  • Genus
    Sylvia
     – typical warblers (6 species)
  • Genus Curruca – 27 species. Formerly in Sylvia (Sylviidae)[5]
    • Barred warbler
      , Curruca nisoria
    • Layard's warbler
      , Curruca layardi
    • Banded parisoma
      , Curruca boehmi
    • Chestnut-vented warbler
      , Curruca suboerulea
    • Desert whitethroat
      , Curruca minula
    • Lesser whitethroat
      , Curruca curruca
    • Hume's whitethroat
      , Curruca althaea
    • Brown parisoma
      , Curruca lugens
    • Yemen warbler
      , Curruca buryi
    • Arabian warbler
      , Curruca leucomelaena
    • Western orphean warbler
      , Curruca hortensis
    • Eastern orphean warbler
      , Curruca crassirostris
    • African desert warbler
      , Curruca deserti
    • Asian desert warbler
      , Curruca nana
    • Tristram's warbler
      , Curruca deserticola
    • Menetries's warbler
      , Curruca mystacea
    • Rüppell's warbler
      , Curruca ruppeli
    • Cyprus warbler
      , Curruca melanothorax
    • Sardinian warbler
      , Curruca melanocephala
    • Western subalpine warbler
      , Curruca iberiae
    • Moltoni's warbler
      , Curruca subalpina
    • Eastern subalpine warbler
      , Curruca cantillans
    • Common whitethroat
      , Curruca communis
    • Spectacled warbler
      , Curruca conspicillata
    • Marmora's warbler
      , Curruca sarda
    • Dartford warbler
      , Curruca undata
    • Balearic warbler
      , Curruca balearica

Moved to family
Paradoxornithidae

Source:[5]

Chrysomma sinense, the yellow-eyed babbler, used to be considered a sylviid closely related to parrotbills
.

Moved to family Pellorneidae

  • Genus Graminicola
    • Rufous-rumped grassbird ("-babbler") Graminicola bengalensis

Moved to family Cisticolidae

  • Genus
    rufous-warblers
    • Black-capped rufous-warbler
      , Bathmocercus cerviniventris
    • Black-faced rufous-warbler
      , Bathmocercus rufus
  • Genus
    Sceptomycter
     – sometimes merged into Bathmocercus
    • Mrs Moreau's warbler
      , Sceptomycter winifredae
  • Genus
    Poliolais – Cisticolidae or more basal like bulbuls
    ?
  • Two to 14 of the 15 tailorbirds

Moved to family Acrocephalidae

Icterine warbler, Hippolais icterina

Marsh and tree warblers or acrocephalid warblers. Usually rather large "warblers", most are olivaceous brown above with much yellow to beige below. Usually in open woodland, reed beds or tall grass. Mainly southern Asia to western Europe and surroundings ranging far into

Pacific
, some in Africa.

  • Genus
    extinct
    )
  • Genus Iduna – olivaceous warblers (6 species)
  • Genus Hippolais – tree warblers (4 species)
  • Genus
    Arundinax
     – thick-billed warbler
  • Genus
    Calamonastides
     – yellow warblers (2 species)
  • Genus Nesillas – brush warblers (5 living species, 1 recently extinct)

Moved to
Malagasy warblers

See Cibois et al. (2001)

Moved to family Locustellidae

fernbird
– probably belongs to the Locustellidae

Grass warblers and allies. Mid-sized and usually long-tailed species; sometimes strongly patterned but generally very drab in overall colouration. Often forage in dense low vegetation. Old World and into Australian region, centred on the Indian Ocean.

  • Genus Bradypterus – megalurid warblers (12 species, including the forner genus Dromaeocercus)
  • Genus Locustella – grass warblers (more than 20 species)
  • Genus
    Megalurus
     – typical grassbirds (10 species)
  • Genus
    Amphilais
     – grey emutail
  • Genus
    Elaphrornis
     – Sri Lanka bush warbler
  • Genus Schoenicola – (2 species)
  • Genus
    Buettikoferella
     – buff-banded thicketbird
  • Genus
    Chaetornis
     – bristled grassbird

Moved to family
Donacobiidae

The black-capped donacobius Donacobius atricapillus, which was long considered an aberrant wren or mockingbird is apparently quite closely related, and is the only South American species in the superfamily Sylvioidea.

Moved to family Cettiidae

Typical bush warblers and relatives or cettiid warblers. Another group of generally very drab species, tend to be smaller and shorter-tailed than Megaluridae. Usually frequent shrubland and undergrowth. Continental Asia, and surrounding regions, ranging into Africa and southern Europe.

uguisubari
.

Moved to family Aegithalidae

Moved to family
Phylloscopidae

Leaf warblers. A group variable in size, generally dull to vivid green above and whitish or yellow below, or more subdued with greyish-green to greyish-brown plumage. Catch food on the wing fairly often. Eurasia, ranging into Wallacea and Africa.

Wood warbler, Phylloscopus sibilatrix

Moved to family Macrosphenidae

African warblers. Also "Sphenoeacus group". An assemblage of usually species-poor and apparently rather ancient "odd warblers" from Africa. Ecomorphologically quite variable. Monophyly requires confirmation.

"Sylviidae" incertae sedis

Taxa that have not been studied. Most are likely to belong to one of

Megaluridae
. These taxa are listed in the sequence used in recent years.

Not in Sylvioidea

Entirely unrelated songbirds hitherto placed in Sylviidae

See also

  • List of extinct birds

Notes

  1. ISBN 978-84-16728-37-4
    .
  2. ISBN 1-85391-186-0
    .
  3. ^ Voous, Karel (1977). "List of Recent Holarctic Bird Species". Ibis. 119: 241–245.
  4. ^ AOU: Check-list of North American Birds Archived 2007-12-11 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^
    S2CID 53216358
    .
  6. S2CID 86085338
    .
  7. S2CID 4720300
    .
  8. PMID 18619860
    .
  9. PMID 16182572
    .

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sylviidae.
Wikispecies has information related to Sylvioidea.
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