Eastern subalpine warbler

Eastern subalpine warbler
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Curruca
Species:
C. cantillans
Binomial name
Curruca cantillans
(Pallas, 1764)
Synonyms
  • Motacilla cantillans
  • Sylvia cantillans

The eastern subalpine warbler (Curruca cantillans) is a small typical warbler which breeds in the southernmost areas of Europe. It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Motacilla cantillans.[2][3][4] The specific cantillans is Latin for "warbling" from canere, "to sing".[5]

Like most Curruca species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back and head, brick-red underparts, and white malar streaks ("moustaches"). The female is mainly brown above, with a greyer head, and whitish below with a pink flush. The subalpine warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is similar to the lesser whitethroat.

This bird seems to be related to the Sardinian warbler-Menetries' warbler superspecies. They all have white malar areas, the heads being dark above in adult males, and naked eye-rings. These three species are related to a superspecies consisting of Rüppell's warbler and the Cyprus warbler, which also share the white malar area with blackish above (Shirihai et al. 2001,[6] Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006 [7]). The subalpine warbler is divided into two distinct subspecies groups, which may possibly be sufficiently diverged to qualify as two separate species (Shirihai et al. 2001).[6] The two groups have differing male plumages, distinctive calls, and are allopatric; on this particular issue, further study is needed. In May 2020, the IOC world bird list recognised the split of western and eastern subalpine warblers into two distinct species.[8]

Moltoni's warbler was formerly considered conspecific.

The eastern subalpine warbler differs from the western subalpine warbler by its deeper blue-grey upperparts, a blackish mask on the lores and ear-coverts, brick reddish-brown coloration confined to the throat and breast and sharply demarcated from a largely white belly, paler flanks and a wider white submoustachial stripe.[9]

This is a bird of dry open country, often on hill slopes, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low shrub or gorse, and 3–5 eggs are laid. Like most "warblers", it is insectivorous, but will also take berries.

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2019) [amended version of 2018 assessment]. "Curruca cantillans". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T103874024A155622649. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T103874024A155622649.en. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  2. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 11. Vol. 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 283.
  3. ^ Sherborn, C. Davies (1905). "The new species of birds in Vroeg's catalogue, 1764". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 47: 332–341 [337 No. 177]. Includes a transcript of the 1764 text.
  4. ^ Rookmaaker, L.C.; Pieters, F.F.J.M. (2000). "Birds in the sales catalogue of Adriaan Vroeg (1764) described by Pallas and Vosmaer". Contributions to Zoology. 69 (4): 271–277. doi:10.1163/18759866-06904005.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 89, 376. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. ^ a b Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Sylvia, pp. 24 – 30 in: Shirihai, Hadoram, Gabriel Gargallo and Andrea J. Helbig (2001) Sylvia warblers: Identification, taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Sylvia Helm Identification Guides ISBN 0-7136-3984-9
  7. ^ Jønsson, Knud A.; Fjeldså, Jon (2006). "A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri)". Zool. Scripta. 35 (2): 149–186. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00221.x. S2CID 85317440.
  8. ^ "Split of Western and Eastern Subalpine Warbler". Magornitho. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  9. ^ Duquet, Marc and Amine Flitti (2007) Éléments d'identification de la Fauvette passerinette orientale [Sylvia cantillans albistriata] Ornithos Vol. 14, no. 3, pages 164 – 171 (in French)