Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Subsectio: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: Saurischia
Cladus: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Infraclassis: Aves
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Infraordo: Passerida
Superfamilia: Sylvioidea
Familia: Locustellidae
Genus: Locustella
Species: L. accentor – L. alishanensis – L. amnicola – L. castanea – L. caudata – L. certhiola – L. davidi – L. fasciolata – L. fluviatilis – L. kashmirensis – L. lanceolata – L. luscinioides – L. luteoventris – L. major – L. mandelli – L. montis – L. naevia – L. ochotensis – L. pleskei – L. pryeri – L. seebohmi – L. tacsanowskia – L. thoracica – L. timorensis
Provisional species: L. chengi
Name
Locustella Kaup, 1829
Typus
Locustella naevia (Boddaert, 1783)
References
Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und Naturliches System der Europäischen Thierwelt: 115
Alström, P. et al. (2015). Integrative taxonomy of the Russet Bush Warbler Locustella mandelli complex reveals a new species from central China. Avian Research 6: 9.
Vernacular names
Deutsch: Schwirle
English: Grass warblers
suomi: Sirkkalinnut
français: Locustelle
עברית: חרגולן
русский: Сверчки
中文: 蝗莺属
The grass warblers are small passerine birds belonging to the genus Locustella. Formerly placed in the paraphyletic "Old World warbler" assemblage, they are now considered the northernmost representatives of a largely Gondwanan family, the Locustellidae.
These are rather drab brownish "warblers" usually associated with fairly open grassland, shrubs or marshes. Some are streaked, others plain, all are difficult to view. They are insectivorous.
The most characteristic feature of this group is that the song of several species is a mechanical insect-like reeling which gives rise to the group's scientific name.
Species breeding in temperate regions are strongly migratory.
Taxonomy
The genus Locustella was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829 with the common grasshopper warbler (Locustella naevia) as the type species.[1][2] The genus name Locustella is from Latin and is a diminutive of locusta, "grasshopper".[3] Like the English name, this refers to the insect-like song of some species.[4]
There are 23 species placed in the genus:[5]
Lanceolated warbler, Locustella lanceolata
Brown bush warbler, Locustella luteoventris
Long-billed bush warbler, Locustella major
Common grasshopper warbler, Locustella naevia
Chinese bush warbler, Locustella tacsanowskia
Bamboo warbler, Locustella alfredi
River warbler Locustella fluviatilis
Savi's warbler, Locustella luscinioides
Friendly bush warbler, Locustella accentor
Sulawesi bush warbler, Locustella castanea
Seram bush warbler, Locustella musculus
Buru bush warbler, Locustella disturbans
Long-tailed bush warbler, Locustella caudata
Baikal bush warbler, Locustella davidi
Spotted bush warbler, Locustella thoracica
West Himalayan bush warbler, Locustella kashmirensis
Taiwan bush warbler, Locustella alishanensis
Russet bush warbler, Locustella mandelli
Dalat bush warbler, Locustella idonea
Benguet bush warbler, Locustella seebohmi
Javan bush warbler, Locustella montis
Sichuan bush warbler, Locustella chengi
Taliabu bush warbler, Locustella portenta
This genus formerly included additional species. A molecular phylogenetic study of the grassbird family Locustellidae published in 2018 found that the genus Locustella consisted of two distinct clades. The genus was split and six species were moved to the newly erected genus Helopsaltes.[6][5]
A fossil acrocoracoid from the Late Miocene (about 11 mya) of Rudabánya (NE Hungary) is quite similar to this bone in the present genus.[7] Given its rather early age (most Passerida genera are not known until the Pliocene), it is not too certain that it is correctly placed here, but it is highly likely to belong to the Locustellidae, or the Sylvioidea at the least. As the grasshopper warblers are the only known locustellid warblers from Europe, it is still fairly likely that the bone piece belongs to a basal Locustella.
References
Kaup, Johann Jakob (1829). Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und Naturliches System der Europaischen Thierwelt (in German). Volume 1. Darmstadt: Carl Wilhelm Leske. p. 115.
Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 50.
Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
"Grasshopper". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Grassbirds, Donacobius, Malagasy warblers, cisticolas, allies". IOC World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
Alström, P.; Cibois, A.; Irestedt, M.; Zuccon, D.; Gelang, M.; Fjeldså, J.; Andersen, M.J.; Moyle, R.G.; Pasquet, E.; Olsson, U. (2018). "Comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the grassbirds and allies (Locustellidae) reveals extensive non-monophyly of traditional genera, and a proposal for a new classification". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 127: 367–375. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.029. PMID 29625229.
Bernor, R.L.; Kordos, L. & Rook, L. (eds):"Recent Advances on Multidisciplinary Research at Rudabánya, Late Miocene (MN9), Hungary: A compendium Archived 2007-06-28 at the Wayback Machine". Paleontographica Italiana 89: 3-36.
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