Cettiidae

Cettiidae
Cetti's warbler, Cettia cetti
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Superfamily: Sylvioidea
Family: Cettiidae
Alström, Ericson, Olsson, & Sundberg, 2006
Genera

Abroscopus
Phyllergates
Tickellia
Horornis
Tesia
Cettia
Urosphena
Hemitesia

Cettiidae is a newly validated family of small insectivorous songbirds ("warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" assemblage. It contains the typical bush warblers (Cettia) and their relatives. As a common name, cettiid warblers is usually used.[1]

Some taxonomic authorities include this entire family, along with the related genera Erythrocercus and Scotocerca, in an enlarged family Scotocercidae.[2]

Its members occur mainly in Asia, ranging into Oceania and Europe. The pseudo-tailorbirds, tesias and stubtails, as well as Tickellia and Abroscopus warblers, are mostly found in the forests of south and southeastern Asia, with one species of stubtail reaching as far north as Japan and Siberia. Only one species, Neumann's warbler (Hemitesia neumanni), occurs in Africa.[3] The range of the genus Cettia extends west to Western Europe, while that of Horornis extends well into the Pacific, as far as Fiji and Palau. Most of the species in the family are sedentary, but the Asian stubtail is wholly migratory and the Japanese bush warbler and Cetti's warbler are partly migratory over much of their range. A few species, such as the pale-footed bush warbler, are altitudinal migrants.

The species are small, stubby birds. Most have moderately long to long tails, while the stubtails and tesias have tiny tails that do not even emerge past their tail coverts. The group is typically clad in dull plumage, often with a line above the eye, but some are more colorful. Altogether the Cettiidae are a quite variable group containing many aberrant birds that hitherto had been uncomfortably placed with a wide range of unrelated families.[citation needed] The Locustellidae, which contain birds which appear very similar to many cettiids, are far more uniform by contrast.[4]

Most live in scrubland and frequently hunt food by clambering through thick tangled growth.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference alstrom was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Winkler D.; Billerman, S.; Lovette I. (2015). Bird Families of the World. Lynx Editions. pp. 442–444. ISBN 978-84-941892-0-3.
  3. ^ Irestedt, M.; Gelang, M.; Sangster, G.; Olsson, U.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Alström, P. (2011). "Neumann's Warbler Hemitesia neumanni (Sylvioidea): the sole African member of a Palaeotropic Miocene avifauna". Ibis. 153 (1): 78–86. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2010.01084.x.
  4. ^ del Hoyo et al. (2006)