Sylviidae
Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
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 and a number of babblers formerly placed within the Old World babbler family. They are found in Eurasia and Africa.

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 these Sylvia "warblers" are more closely related to the Old World babblers than other 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 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]

Pycnonotidae – bulbuls (160 species)

Paradoxornithidae – parrotbills and myzornis (37 species)

Sylviidae – sylviid babblers (34 species)

Zosteropidae – white-eyes (150 species)

Timaliidae – tree babblers (58 species)

Pellorneidae – ground babblers (65 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.[8][9]

List of species

The family Sylviidae has undergone several revisions since the above phylogeny was published. As of early 2024, the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recoganizes these 32 species divided among two genera:[10] This list is presented according to the IOC taxonomic sequence and can also be sorted alphabetically by common name and binomial.

Genus Common name Binomial name IOC sequence
Sylvia Scopoli, 1769
 Eurasian blackcap Sylvia atricapilla 1
Garden warbler Sylvia borin 2
Dohrn's warbler Sylvia dohrni 3
Abyssinian catbird Sylvia galinieri 4
Bush blackcap Sylvia nigricapillus 5
African hill babbler Sylvia abyssinica 6
Rwenzori hill babbler Sylvia atriceps 7
Curruca Bechstein, 1802
 Barred warbler Curruca nisoria 8
Layard's warbler Curruca layardi 9
Banded parisoma Curruca boehmi 10
Chestnut-vented warbler Curruca subcoerulea 11
Lesser whitethroat Curruca curruca 23
Brown parisoma Curruca lugens 13
Yemen warbler Curruca buryi 14
Arabian warbler Curruca leucomelaena 15
Western Orphean warbler Curruca hortensis 16
Eastern Orphean warbler Curruca crassirostris 17
African desert warbler Curruca deserti 18
Asian desert warbler Curruca nana 19
Tristram's warbler Curruca deserticola 20
Menetries's warbler Curruca mystacea 21
Rüppell's warbler Curruca ruppeli 22
Cyprus warbler Curruca melanothorax 23
Sardinian warbler Curruca melanocephala 24
Western subalpine warbler Curruca iberiae 25
Moltoni's warbler Curruca subalpina 26
Eastern subalpine warbler Curruca cantillans 27
Common whitethroat Curruca communis 28
Spectacled warbler Curruca conspicillata 29
Marmora's warbler Curruca sarda 30
Dartford warbler Curruca undata 31
Balearic warbler Curruca balearica 32

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sylviidae.
  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. ^ a b 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. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (January 2024). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes". IOC World Bird List. v 14.1. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
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