Reed warbler

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Reed warbler
Reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)

Reed warbler ( Acrocephalus scirpaceus )

Systematics
Subclass : New-jawed birds (Neognathae)
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
without rank: Passerida
Superfamily : Sylvioidea
Family : Reed warbler
Scientific name
Acrocephalidae
Salvin , 1882
Reed Warbler ( Acrocephalus schoenobaenus )
Australian reed warbler ( Acrocephalus australis )
Seychelles reed warbler ( Acrocephalus sixellensis )
Reed warbler ( Acrocephalus stentoreus )
Bush Mockers ( Iduna caligata )
Orpheusspötter ( Hippolais polyglotta )

The reed warbler (Acrocephalidae) are a family of songbirds (Passeri) whose distribution extends over the Old World to Australia and Polynesia . Their representatives have so far been placed among the warblers (Sylviidae). According to genetic findings from 2006 and 2008, however, they represent one of the main clades of the superfamily Sylvioidea within the songbirds and therefore deserve the status of their own family. The family currently contains 55 species in five genera.

description

The reed warbler-like are quite uniform in color and shape, but vary significantly in size. The smallest species, the brow warbler , bush and steppe mockers , are only about the size of a warbler at 11.5 to 13 cm. The largest and heaviest species is the stare-sized reed warbler with a body length of around 18 cm and an average weight of 35.5 g . Almost all species are relatively monochrome with a brownish to gray upper side in different tones and a whitish, mostly brownish or beige tinted underside. A few species of the genus Acrocephalus , two Hippolais and some Iduna species are greenish on the upper side with a pale to vivid yellow underside. Four Acrocephalus species show dark dots on the top. The chants are often very complex and variable and in some species contain a large proportion of imitations of other species. Many closely related species can be better distinguished on the basis of their songs than on the basis of their external appearance.

Way of life

Most reed warblers colonize wetlands or habitats near water, where they occur in reed beds or swamp vegetation. However, some species - such as the Mockers and Bush Warblers - are more likely to be found in drier habitats. All Eurasian species are migratory or partial migrants, with the populations of the western Palearctic mostly in Africa, the eastern populations in South Asia. The remaining species are resident birds .

Systematics

External system

The taxonomic history of the reed warbler is closely linked to that of the warblers (Sylviidae), to which they have long been associated. In this grouping - sometimes also referred to as "twig singers" - around 400 species were temporarily united in around 70 genera, which were superficially similar, but generally had hardly any particularly differentiated characteristics to differentiate the family from others.

The birds of the "Zweigsänger" type (English warbler type ) were mainly characterized by a finely pointed beak with a few bristles at the base and simple jaw muscles. Most species are inconspicuous to monotonous in color and relatively slender, feed mainly insectivore and move skillfully through the vegetation. They differ from thrushes or snappers by an unspotted, relatively simple youth dress. However, this type is so unspecific that it does not necessarily have to indicate a common ancestry, but can have arisen several times within the songbirds through a convergent development due to similar ecological preferences. In the last few decades this assumption turned out to be more and more correct due to genetic investigations, which ultimately resulted in an almost complete regrouping of the "warblers" or "twigs".

The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy laid the foundation for this research, which identified three main clades within the suborder Passerida of the songbirds (Passeri): the Muscicapoidea, the Sylvioidea and the Passeroidea, which turned out to be monophyletic due to further investigations, even with minor changes . Within the Sylvioidea there were again three main clades, one of which consisted of the previous warblers, the Bülbüls and Timalien as well as the swallows (and after further investigations also the larks).

In 2005, the composition and kinship relationships within the Sylvioidea were the subject of a fairly comprehensive genetic investigation (Alström et al., 2006). In this mitochondrial and from cell nuclei obtained DNA sequences of about 80 taxa tested and identified eleven major clades within the Sylvioidea. One of them consisted of representatives of the genera Acrocephalus (reed warbler ), Hippolais (mockers) and Chloropeta (three African reed warblers). The sister clade sat down u. a. from the genera Locustella (Schwirle), Bradypterus (bush warbler) and Megalurus (grass warbler) together. Family status and the names Acrocephalidae and Megaluridae were suggested for these two clades . The warblers ( Sylvia ), on the other hand, were part of a clade made up of numerous representatives of the Timaliidae and the warblers ( Phylloscopus ) - previously also classified as "warbler-like" - also formed their own group. Also Cistensänger and Cetti's warbler found in the other group, ie are not closely related to the warblers.

Another study that also included a large number of taxa (Johansson et al., 2008) confirmed the results by and large, but also brought further insights. Accordingly, the Malagasy genus Nesillas , represented by the tsikirity bush warbler ( N. typica ), is closely related to Acrocephalus and Hippolais - also part of the Acrocephalidae. In addition, the Bernieridae , which are also native to Madagascar, form a common clade with the Acrocephalidae and Megaluridae (later renamed Locustellidae ).

Internal system

The relationships within the reed warbler group were particularly controversial in the second half of the 20th century. There have been numerous different attempts to divide the group at the generic or sub-generic level. For example, the thick-billed reed warbler was placed in its own genus called Phragamaticola , and the genus Lusciniola was proposed for the reed warbler . Other concepts included a subgenus Calamodus for the striped warbler , Notiocichla for the smaller, unstriped species, Acrocephalus in the narrower sense for the arundinaceus / stentoreus group and Calamocichla for the African-Malagasy species. A division of the mockers into larger and smaller species, which should be in the genera Hippolais or Iduna , was discussed and the classification of the three African Chloropeta species was also the subject of various considerations. It was agreed that neither the genera Acrocephalus nor Hippolais were monophyletic in the current compilation.

After Alström (2005) and Johansson (2008) defined the family Acrocephalidae, it initially consisted of four genera:

  • Acrocephalus with 37 species, common in the Old World and Australasia
  • Hippolais with eight species, limited in distribution to the Palearctic
  • Three species of chloropeta - native to sub-Saharan Africa
  • Five species of nesillas - endemic to Madagascar

An investigation of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from 2009 (Fregin et al.) Showed that none of the concepts proposed so far correctly reflects the phylogenetic relationships within the group. Taxa that had not been taken into account so far were also included in the study. Two larger clades were found (next to a branch from Nesillas ), one of which consisted of the greater part of the Acrocephalus species as well as the larger Mockers species ( H. icterina, polyglotta, languida, olivetorum ). The other contained the smaller mockers species ( H. pallida, opaca, caligata, rama ) and the two Chloropeta species, the reed warbler ( C. natalensis ) and the bamboo warbler ( C. similis ). In addition, the thick-billed reed warbler ( Acrocephalus aedon ) was found here as closely related .

The family relationships are shown in a simplified manner in the cladogram (gray font: suggested generic names):




 Calamonastides 

Chloropeta gracilirostris


 Iduna 

Acrocephalus aedon


   

Chloropeta natalensis
Chloropeta similis


   

Hippolais pallida
Hippolais opaca
Hippolais caligata
Hippolais rama





   
 Hippolais 

Hippolais icterina
Hippolais polyglotta
Hippolais languida
Hippolais olivetorum


 Acrocephalus 

Acrocephalus (31 species)




   

Nesillas



Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

So none of the first three genera is monophyletic. As a result, the authors suggested either Hippolais and Chloropeta in Acrocephalus integrate or Hippolais split and part of the species with two of Chloropeta types, and Acrocephalus aedon in the genre Iduna to ask - Iduna would have priority over Chloropeta . Chloropeta gracilirostris would best be placed in the monotypical genus Calamonastides because of its unclear classification .

Genera and species

literature

  • Silke Fregin, Martin Haase, Urban Olsson, Per Alström: Multi-locus phylogeny of the family Acrocephalidae (Aves: Passeriformes) - The traditional taxonomy overthrown , Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52, 2009, pp. 866-878, doi: 10.1016 / j .ympev.2009.04.006
  • Franz Bairlein : Sylviidae (Old World Warblers). In: Del Hoyo et al .: Handbook of the Birds of the World . Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. 2006, revision June 2013, p. 492f.
  • Sylviidae family - warblers (warblers and relatives) in Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim , KM Bauer: Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas . Volume 12 / I, Passeriformes (3rd part): Sylviidae, AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1993/2001 (first edition 1991), ISBN 3-923527-00-4 , p. 11f
  • Per Alström, Per GP Ericson, Urban Olsson, Per Sundberg: Phylogeny and Classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea , Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 38, 2006, pp. 381-397, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2005.05.015
  • Ulf S. Johansson, Jon Fjeldså, Rauri CK Bowie: Phylogenetic relationships within Passerida (Aves: Passeriformes): A review and a new molecular phylogeny based on three nuclear intron markers , Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48, 2008, pp. 858–876, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2008.05.029
  • Silke Fregin, Martin Haase, Urban Olsson, Per Alström: New insights into family relationships within the avian superfamily Sylvioidea (Passeriformes) based on seven molecular markers , BMC Evolutionary Biology (12/157), 2012, ( PDF ).

Continuing

  • Bernd Leisler, Karl Schulze-Hagen: The Reed Warblers - Behavioral Ecology - Ornithology , KNNV Publishing 2011, ISBN 978-90-5011-391-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Alström et al. (2006), p. 391, see literature
  2. ↑ Johnsson et al. (2008), see literature
  3. ^ Frank Gill, David Donsker (Eds.): IOC World Bird List , Version 3.5 (2013), accessed December 28, 2013
  4. ↑ Del Hoyo et al. (2006), see literature
  5. ↑ a b Fregin et al. (2009), p. 866, see literature
  6. ↑ Bairlein (2006), section “Systematics”, see literature
  7. ↑ Bairlein (2006), section “Morphological Aspects”, see literature
  8. ↑ a b Alström et al. (2006), p. 382, ​​see literature
  9. ↑ a b Alström et al. (2006), see literature
  10. ↑ Johansson et al. (2008), see literature
  11. ↑ Fregin et al. (2009), p. 867f, see literature
  12. ↑ Fregin et al. (2009), p. 866, see literature
  13. ↑ Fregin et al. (2009), see literature
  14. ↑ Fregin et al. (2009), pp. 874f, see literature

Web links

Commons : Reed warbler (Acrocephalidae)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files