Horornis

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Horornis
Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler- calling I IMG 6773.jpg
The brown-flanked bush warbler (Horornis fortipes)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cettiidae
Genus: Horornis
Hodgson, 1845
Type species
Horornis fortipes
Hodgson, 1845
Species

See text

Horornis is a genus of small insectivorous songbirds ("warblers") which make up the core of the newly recognized family Cettiidae. They were formerly placed in the Sylviidae, which at that time was a wastebin taxon for the warbler-like Sylvioidea. The range of this genus occurs from southeast Asia throughout the western Pacific. The most recently described species is the Bougainville bush warbler (Horornis haddeni) from Bougainville Island.

Contents

These typical bush warblers share the lifestyle and related adaptations and apomorphies with Bradypterus , the other genus called bush warblers. However, Bradypterus is related to the grass warblers of Locustella and Megalurus and is more distant from Cettia. Both "bush warbler" genera are smallish birds well adapted to climbing among shrubbery. They are markedly long-tailed birds, at first glance somewhat reminiscent of wrens.

These are quite terrestrial birds, which live in densely vegetated habitats such as thick forest and reedbeds. They will walk away from disturbance rather than flush. The plumage similarities and skulking lifestyle makes these birds hard to see and identify.

These bush warblers tend towards rich or greyish browns above and buffish or light grey tones below. They have little patterning apart from the ubiquitous supercilium. Altogether, they appear much like the plainer species among Acrocephalus marsh warblers in coloration. Megalurid bush warblers tend to be somewhat slimmer and have a very long and pointed tail, but are otherwise very similar.

Species

This genus has been split from the genus Cettia . Cetti's warbler (C. cetti), the previous type species, seems close to the genus Tesia from Southeast Asia and neighboring regions. Birds in the genus Horornis, such as the famous uguisu (鶯, Japanese bush warbler, H. diphone) and the brown-flanked bush warbler (H. fortipes) belong to a group that might include the aberrant broad-billed warbler (Tickellia hodgsoni). This latter species differs wildly in its gaudy colors but in habitus is a typical "bush warbler". [1]

ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Manchurian Bush-Warbler.jpg Manchurian bush warbler Horornis canturiansnortheastern China.
Cettia diphone (crying).JPG Japanese bush warbler Horornis diphoneJapan
Philippine bush warbler Horornis seebohmiPhilippines.
Palau bush warbler Horornis annaePalau.
Shade bush warbler Horornis parensSolomon Islands
Bougainville bush warbler Horornis haddeniBougainville Island in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea
Fiji bush warbler Horornis ruficapillaFiji.
Tanimbar bush warbler Horornis carolinaeYamdena
Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler I IMG 6777.jpg Brown-flanked bush warbler Horornis fortipesSouth Asia
Aberrant Bush Warbler Horornis flavolivaceus by Dr. Raju Kasambe DSCN3403 (3).jpg Aberrant bush warbler Horornis flavolivaceusHimalayas, southern China, northern Indochina and montane Malesia
Yellow-bellied bush warbler Horornis acanthizoidesmainland China and Taiwan
Yellowish-bellied Bush-Warbler - Arunachal Pradesh - India FJ0A7554 (33492568393).jpg Hume's bush warbler Horornis brunnescensHimalayas of Nepal and India.

Footnotes

  1. Alström et al. (2006), Fuchs et al. (2006)

References