Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that includes the genus 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.
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. The name of the author is not specified in the document. 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. 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
A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial DNA sequence data published in 2011 found that the species in the genus Sylvia formed two distinct clades. 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. 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", but then later accepted in 2021.
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: 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 Eurasian blackcapSylvia atricapilla1Garden warblerSylvia borin2Dohrn's warblerSylvia dohrni3Abyssinian catbirdSylvia galinieri4Bush blackcapSylvia nigricapillus5African hill babblerSylvia abyssinica6Rwenzori hill babblerSylvia atriceps7 Curruca Barred warblerCurruca nisoria8Layard's warblerCurruca layardi9Banded parisomaCurruca boehmi10Chestnut-vented warblerCurruca subcoerulea11Lesser whitethroatCurruca curruca23Brown parisomaCurruca lugens13Yemen warblerCurruca buryi14Arabian warblerCurruca leucomelaena15Western Orphean warblerCurruca hortensis16Eastern Orphean warblerCurruca crassirostris17African desert warblerCurruca deserti18Asian desert warblerCurruca nana19Tristram's warblerCurruca deserticola20Menetries's warblerCurruca mystacea21Rüppell's warblerCurruca ruppeli22Cyprus warblerCurruca melanothorax23Sardinian warblerCurruca melanocephala24Western subalpine warblerCurruca iberiae25Moltoni's warblerCurruca subalpina26Eastern subalpine warblerCurruca cantillans27Common whitethroatCurruca communis28Spectacled warblerCurruca conspicillata29Marmora's warblerCurruca sarda30Dartford warblerCurruca undata31Balearic warblerCurruca 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.
Distribution and habitat Most species occur in Asia, and to a lesser extent in Africa. A few range into Europe.
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