Moltoni's warbler

Moltoni's warbler
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Curruca
Species:
C. subalpina
Binomial name
Curruca subalpina
(Temminck, 1820)
Synonyms
  • Sylvia moltonii
  • Sylvia subalpina
  • Sylvia cantillans moltonii[2]

Moltoni's warbler (Curruca subalpina) is a small bird species of the family Sylviidae. It is named after its describer Edgardo Moltoni.

It breeds in Corsica, Sardinia, areas around the Ligurian Sea and the Balearic Islands.

It 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 eat berries. It winters in Algeria and Sub-Saharan West Africa.[3][4]

It was until recently considered a subspecies of the western subalpine warbler, from which it differs by a shorter trill and a pinker rather than orange underside.

The specific subalpina is Latin for "below the mountains".[5]

  1. ^ "Curruca subalpina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T22735596A155627483. 2019. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22735596A155627483.en. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Proposed synonymy of Sylvia cantillans moltonii Orlando, 1937, with Sylvia cantillans subalpina Temminck, 1820". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 127: 107. 2007.
  3. ^ Moltoni's warbler @ Handbook of Bird Species of the World
  4. ^ Piot, B.; Blanc, Jean-Francois (2007). "Moltoni's Warbler Sylvia subalpina in Senegal and West Africa". Malimbus. 39: 37–42.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 369, 376. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.