Sylviidae

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Sylviidae
Sylvia atricapilla male 2.jpg
Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Superfamily: Sylvioidea
Family: Sylviidae
Leach, 1820
Genera

See text

Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that includes the typical warblers Sylvia, and the closely related genus Curruca , formerly included in Sylvia. They are found in Eurasia and Africa, with the greatest diversity in the Mediterranean region.

Contents

Taxonomy and systematics

The scientific name Sylviidae was introduced by the English zoologist William Elford Leach (as Sylviadæ) in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1820. [1] [2] The family became part of an assemblage known as the Old World warblers and was a wastebin taxon with over 400 species of bird in over 70 genera. [3] Advances in classification, particularly helped with molecular data, have led to the splitting out of several new families from within this group. There is now evidence that the Sylviidae warblers are more closely related to the Old World babblers than other birds also called warblers [4]

A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial DNA sequence data published in 2011 found that the species in the genus Sylvia formed two distinct clades. [5] Based on these results, the ornithologists Edward Dickinson and Leslie Christidis in the fourth edition of Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World , chose to split the genus and moved most of the species into a resurrected genus Curruca , retaining only the Eurasian blackcap and the garden warbler in Sylvia . They also moved the African hill babbler and Dohrn's thrush-babbler into Sylvia. [6] The split was at first not accepted by the British Ornithologists' Union on the grounds that "a split into two genera would unnecessarily destabilize nomenclature and results in only a minor increase in phylogenetic information content", [7] but then later accepted in 2021. [8]

Pycnonotidae – bulbuls (167 species)

Paradoxornithidae – parrotbills and myzornis (38 species)

Sylviidae – sylviid warblers (32 species)

Zosteropidae – white-eyes (152 species)

Timaliidae – tree babblers (58 species)

Pellorneidae – ground babblers (68 species)

Alcippeidae – Alcippe fulvettas (10 species)

Leiothrichidae – laughingthrushes and allies (133 species)

Phylogeny based on a study of the babblers by Cai and colleagues published in 2019. [9] [10]

List of species

The family Sylviidae has undergone several revisions since the above phylogeny was published. As of August 2024, the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 32 species divided among two genera: [11] This list is presented according to the IOC taxonomic sequence and can also be sorted alphabetically by common name and binomial.

GenusCommon nameBinomial nameIOC sequence
Sylvia Scopoli, 1769
Sylvia atricapilla -Lullington Heath, East Sussex, England -male-8.jpg
Eurasian blackcap Sylvia atricapilla1
Garden warbler Sylvia borin2
Dohrn's warbler Sylvia dohrni3
Abyssinian catbird Sylvia galinieri4
Bush blackcap Sylvia nigricapillus5
African hill babbler Sylvia abyssinica6
Rwenzori hill babbler Sylvia atriceps7
Curruca Bechstein, 1802
Sylvia curruca 1 (Martin Mecnarowski).jpg
Barred warbler Curruca nisoria8
Layard's warbler Curruca layardi9
Banded parisoma Curruca boehmi10
Chestnut-vented warbler Curruca subcoerulea11
Lesser whitethroat Curruca curruca23
Brown parisoma Curruca lugens13
Yemen warbler Curruca buryi14
Arabian warbler Curruca leucomelaena15
Western Orphean warbler Curruca hortensis16
Eastern Orphean warbler Curruca crassirostris17
African desert warbler Curruca deserti18
Asian desert warbler Curruca nana19
Tristram's warbler Curruca deserticola20
Menetries's warbler Curruca mystacea21
Rüppell's warbler Curruca ruppeli22
Cyprus warbler Curruca melanothorax23
Sardinian warbler Curruca melanocephala24
Western subalpine warbler Curruca iberiae25
Moltoni's warbler Curruca subalpina26
Eastern subalpine warbler Curruca cantillans27
Common whitethroat Curruca communis28
Spectacled warbler Curruca conspicillata29
Marmora's warbler Curruca sarda30
Dartford warbler Curruca undata31
Balearic warbler Curruca balearica32

Description

Sylviids are small to medium-sized passerine birds. The bill is generally thin and pointed with bristles at the base. Sylviids have a slender shape and an inconspicuous and mostly plain plumage. The wings have ten primaries, which are rounded and short in non-migratory species. [3]

Distribution and habitat

Most species occur in Asia, and to a lesser extent in Africa. A few range into Europe.

References

  1. Leach, William Elford (1820). "Eleventh Room". Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum. Vol. 17 (17th ed.). London: British Museum. pp. 66–67. The name of the author is not specified in the document.
  2. Bock, Walter J. (1994). History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History Issue 222. pp. 152, 245. hdl:2246/830.
  3. 1 2 Bairlein, F.; Bonan, A. "Old World Warblers (Sylviidae)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. doi:10.2173/bow.sylvii1.01. S2CID   216447126 . Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  4. "SYLVIDS Sylviidae". Bird Families of the World. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  5. Voelker, Gary; Light, Jessica E. (2011). "Palaeoclimatic events, dispersal and migratory losses along the Afro-European axis as drivers of biogeographic distribution in Sylvia warblers". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 11 (163): 163. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-163 . PMC   3123607 . PMID   21672229.
  6. Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, Volume 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. pp. 509–512. ISBN   978-0-9568611-2-2.
  7. Sangster, G.; et al. (2016). "Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: 11th report". Ibis. 158 (1): 206–212. doi: 10.1111/ibi.12322 .
  8. "British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC): 52nd Report (January 2021)". Ibis. 163 (1): 305–308. 2021. doi: 10.1111/ibi.12900 . ISSN   0019-1019 . Retrieved 2024-12-15.
  9. Cai, T.; Cibois, A.; Alström, P.; Moyle, R.G.; Kennedy, J.D.; Shao, S.; Zhang, R.; Irestedt, M.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Gelang, M.; Qu, Y.; Lei, F.; Fjeldså, J. (2019). "Near-complete phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the world's babblers (Aves: Passeriformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 130: 346–356. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.010 . PMID   30321696.
  10. Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (January 2023). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes". IOC World Bird List. v 13.1. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  11. Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (August 2024). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes". IOC World Bird List. v 14.2. Retrieved August 20, 2024.