Curruca Explained

Curruca is a genus of Sylviid warblers, best represented in Europe, Africa, and Asia. All of these species were formerly placed in the genus Sylvia.

Taxonomy

The genus Curruca was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802. The type species (by tautonomy) is the lesser whitethroat Curruca curruca.^{[1] [2] [3]} The name Curruca is the Latin word for an unidentified small bird mentioned by the Roman poet Juvenal.^[4] The genus was split from Sylvia in the Howard and Moore Checklist in 2014 after a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2011.^[5] The split is now recognised by most modern authorities.^[6]

Species

The genus contains 25 species:^[7]

• Barred warbler, Curruca nisoria
• Layard's warbler, Curruca layardi
• Banded parisoma, Curruca boehmi
• Chestnut-vented warbler, Curruca subcoerulea
• Lesser whitethroat, Curruca curruca
• Brown parisoma, Curruca lugens
• Yemen warbler, Curruca buryi
• Arabian warbler, Curruca leucomelaena
• Western Orphean warbler, Curruca hortensis
• Eastern Orphean warbler, Curruca crassirostris
• African desert warbler, Curruca deserti
• Asian desert warbler, Curruca nana
• Tristram's warbler, Curruca deserticola
• Menetries's warbler, Curruca mystacea
• Rüppell's warbler, Curruca ruppeli
• Cyprus warbler, Curruca melanothorax
• Sardinian warbler, Curruca melanocephala
• Western subalpine warbler, Curruca iberiae
• Moltoni's warbler, Curruca subalpina
• Eastern subalpine warbler, Curruca cantillans
• Common whitethroat, Curruca communis
• Spectacled warbler, Curruca conspicillata
• Marmora's warbler, Curruca sarda
• Dartford warbler, Curruca undata
• Balearic warbler, Curruca balearica

Notes and References

1. Book: Bechstein, Johann Matthäus . Johann Matthäus Bechstein . 1802 . Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte . German . Leipzig . Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter . 165 .
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Cottrell . G. William . 1986 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 11 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 270 .
3. Book: Dickinson . E.C. . Edward C. Dickinson . Christidis . L. . Leslie Christidis . 2014 . The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World . 2: Passerines . 4th . Eastbourne, UK . Aves Press . 978-0-9568611-2-2 . 510 .
4. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 125 .
5. 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 . 10.1186/1471-2148-11-163 . free . 21672229 . 3123607. 2011BMCEE..11..163V .
6. Web site: Lepage . Denis . Avibase - The World Bird Database . 17 May 2022.
7. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2021 . Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes . IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 17 June 2021 .