Sylvia

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Euavialae
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Cladus: Telluraves
Cladus: Australaves
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Infraordo: Passerida
Superfamilia: Sylvioidea

Familia: Sylviidae
Genus: Sylvia
Species: S. abyssinica – – S. atriceps – S. borin – S. dohrni – S. galinieri – S. nigricapillaS. atricapilla

Species moved to Curruca: S. althaea – S. balearica – S. boehmi – S. buryi – S. cantillans – S. communis – S. conspicillata – S. crassirostris – – S. deserti – S. deserticola – S. hortensis – S. layardi – S. leucomelaena – S. lugens – S. melanocephala – S. melanothorax – S. minula – S. mystacea – S. nana – S. nisoria – S. ruppeli – – S. subalpina – S. subcoerulea – S. undataS. althaea - S. atricapilla -S. balearica - S. boehmi - S. borin - S. buryi - S. cantillans - S. communis - S. conspicillata -S. crassirostris - S. curruca - S. deserti - S. deserticola - S. hortensis - S. layardi - S. leucomelaena - S. lugens -S. margelanica - S. melanocephala - S. melanothorax - S. minula - S. mystacea - S. nana - S. nisoria - S. rueppelli - S. sarda - S. subcaeruleum - S. undata S. sardaS. curruca

Name

Sylvia Scopoli, 1769

Typus: Motacilla atricapilla Linnaeus, 1758, = Sylvia atricapilla

Synonyms

Melizophilus Leach, 1816
Lioptilus Bonaparte, 1850
Cuphopterus Hartlaub, 1866
Horizorhinus Oberholser, 1899
Parophasma Reichenow, 1905
Pseudoalcippe Bannerman, 1923

References
Primary references

Annus I-(V) Historico-Naturalis: 154.

Additional references

Moyle, R.G., Andersen, M.J., Oliveros, C.H., Steinheimer, F.D. & Reddy, S. 2012. Phylogeny and Biogeography of the Core Babblers (Aves: Timaliidae). Systematic Biology 61(4): 631–651. DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/sys027 Open access Reference page.
Voelker, G. & Light, J.E. 2011. Palaeoclimatic events, dispersal and migratory losses along the Afro-European axis as drivers of biogeographic distribution in Sylvia warblers. BMC Evolutionary Biology 11: 163 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-163 Open access Reference page.
Cai, T., Cibois, A., Alström, P., Moyle, R.G., Kennedy, J.D., Shao, S., Zhang, R., Irestedt, M., Ericson, P.G.P, Gelang, M., Qu, Y., Lei, F. & Fjeldså, J. 2019. Near-complete phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the world’s babblers (Aves: Passeriformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 130: 346–356. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.010 Reference page.

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Grasmücken
English: Typical warblers
Frysk: Hagekrûpers
lietuvių: Devynbalsės
Türkçe: Ötleğen

stouter legs and a slightly thicker bill than many other warblers. The plumage is in varying shades of grey and brown, usually darker above and paler below, with bluish or pinkish tones in several species; several also have orange-brown or rufous fringed wing feathers. The tail is square-ended in most, slightly rounded in a few, and in several species has white sides. Many of the species show some sexual dimorphism, with distinctive male and female plumages, with the males in many having black or bright grey on the heads, replaced by brown, brownish-grey or similar dusky colours in females; about a third of the species also have a conspicuous red eye ring in males. Species breeding in cool temperate regions are strongly migratory, while most of those in warmer regions are partially migratory or resident. They are active warblers usually associated with open woodland, scrub, hedges or shrubs. Their diet is largely insectivorous, though several species also eat fruit extensively, mainly small berries such as elder and ivy, particularly from late summer to late winter; one species (blackcap) also frequently takes a wide variety of human-provided foods on birdtables in winter.[2][5]

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Sylvia was introduced in 1769 by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli.[6] Scopoli did not specify a type species but this was designated as the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1828.[7][8] The genus name is from Modern Latin silvia, a woodland sprite, related to silva meaning "a wood".[9]

The typical warblers are now known to form a major lineage in a clade containing also the parrotbills and some taxa formerly considered to be Old World babblers.[10][11] The other "Old World warblers" have been moved to their own families, entirely redelimiting the Sylviidae.[12]

A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial DNA sequence data published in 2011 found that the species in the genus Sylvia formed two distinct clades.[13] 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. In an additional change they moved the African hill babbler and Dohrn's thrush-babbler into Sylvia.[14] The split was not made 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."[15]
Extant species

The genus as currently circumscribed includes the following species:[16]

Eurasian blackcap Sylvia atricapilla
Garden warbler Sylvia borin
Dohrn's warbler Sylvia dohrni
Abyssinian catbird Sylvia galinieri
Bush blackcap Sylvia nigricapillus
African hill babbler Sylvia abyssinica
Rwenzori hill babbler Sylvia atriceps

References

Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills & white-eyes". World Bird List Version 6.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A., & Christie, D. (editors). (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-96553-06-X.
Helbig, A. J. (2001). The characteristics of the genus: Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Sylvia. Pages 24–28 in: Shirihai, H., Gargallo, G., Helbig, A. J., & Harris, A. Sylvia Warblers. Helm Identification Guides ISBN 0-7136-3984-9
Jønsson, K. A. & Fjeldså, J. (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 (HTML abstract)
Snow, D. W., & Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic (Concise ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854099-X.
Scopoli, Giovanni Antonio (1769). Annus I historico-naturalis (in Latin). Lipsiae (Leipzig): C.G. Hilscheri. p. 154.
Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1828). American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of Birds Inhabiting the United States, Not Given By Wilson. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey. p. 17.
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. 270.
Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 376. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Alström, P.; Ericson, P. G. P.; Olsson, U.; Sundberg, P. (2006). "Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 38 (2): 381–397. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.015. PMID 16054402.
Cibois, Alice (2003). "Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of babblers (Timaliidae)". The Auk. 120 (1): 35–54. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2003)120[0035:MDPOBT]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 4090138.
Cai, T.; Cibois, A.; Alström, P.; Moyle, R.G.; Kennedy, J.D.; Shao, S.; Zhang, R.; Irestedt, M.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Gelang, M.; Qu, Y.; Lei, F.; Fjeldså, J. (2019). "Near-complete phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the world's babblers (Aves: Passeriformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 130: 346–356. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.010.
Voelker, Gary; Light, Jessica E. (2011). "Palaeoclimatic events, dispersal and migratory losses along the Afro-European axis as drivers of biogeographic distribution in Sylvia warblers". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 11 (163): 163. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-163. PMC 3123607. PMID 21672229.
Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, Volume 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. ISBN 978-0-9568611-2-2.
Sangster, G.; et al. (2016). "Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: 11th report". Ibis. 158 (1): 206–212. doi:10.1111/ibi.12322.

Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P. (eds.). "Family Sylviidae". IOC World Bird List. Version 10.1. International Ornithological Congress. Retrieved 1 July 2020.

Further reading
Brambilla, Mattia; Vitulano, Severino; Spina, Fernando; Bacetti, Nicola; Gargalllo, Gabriel; Fabbri, Elena; Guidali, Franca; Randi, Ettore (2008). "A molecular phylogeny of the Sylvia cantillans complex: Cryptic species within the Mediterranean basin". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 48 (2): 461–472. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.05.013. PMID 18590968.
Svensson, Lars (2013). "A taxonomic revision of the Subalpine Warbler Sylvia cantillans" (PDF). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 133: 240–248.
Svensson, Lars (2013). "Subalpine Warbler variation and taxonomy". British Birds. 106 (11): 651–668.