''Bradypterus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of small

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

s ("

warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers T ...

s") in the newly recognized grass warbler

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

(

Locustellidae Locustellidae is a recently recognised family of small insectivorous songbirds (" warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler " wastebin" family. It contains the grasshopper warblers, grassbirds, and the '' Bradypterus'' " bush war ...

). They were formerly placed in the

Sylviidae Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that includes the typical warblers ''Sylvia'', and closely related genus '' Curruca'', formerly included in ''Sylvia''. They are found in Eurasia and Africa, with the greatest diversity in the Mediterrane ...

, which at that time was a

wastebin taxon Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically defined by e ...

for the warbler-like

Sylvioidea Sylvioidea is a superfamily of passerine birds, one of at least three major clades within the Passerida along with the Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. It contains about 1300 species including the Old World warblers, Old World babblers, swallows ...

. The range of this genus extends through the warm regions from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

around the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and far into

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The locustellid bush warblers are related to the grass warblers of ''

Locustella ''Locustella'' is a genus of small passerine birds that include the grasshopper warblers. Formerly placed in the paraphyletic "Old World warbler" assemblage, they are now considered the northernmost representatives of a largely Gondwanan family, ...

'' and '' Megalurus'', but share lifestyle and related

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

s and

apomorph In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ha ...

ies with bush warblers in the family

Cettiidae Cettiidae is a newly validated family of small insectivorous songbirds (" warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" assemblage. It contains the typical bush warblers ('' Cettia'') and their relatives. As a common name, cet ...

. These belong to an older lineage of Sylvioidea. Both "bush warbler" genera are smallish birds well adapted to climbing among

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

bery. They are markedly long-tailed birds, at first glance somewhat reminiscent of

wren Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...

s. These are quite terrestrial birds, which live in densely vegetated

habitats In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

like thick forest and reedbeds. They will walk away from disturbance rather than flush. The

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

similarities and skulking lifestyle make these birds hard to see and identify. Locustellid bush warblers tend towards greyish browns above and buffish or light grey tones below. They have little patterning apart from the ubiquitous

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

. Altogether, they appear much like the plainer species among '' Acrocephalus'' marsh-warblers in coloration. Cettiid bush warblers tend to be somewhat more compact, with less pointed tails, but are otherwise very similar.

Species

This genus has been recently revised. The Sri Lanka bush warbler is sometimes placed in this genus but is now placed in its own monotypic genus (''Elaphrornis''). Several other former members of this genus (e.g. the

Chinese bush warbler The Chinese bush warbler (''Locustella tacsanowskia'') is an Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1871. It breeds in the East Palearctic (East Siberia to Tibet and South China); it w ...

) are now placed in ''

''. Victorin's warbler is no longer a member of this genus or even the family Locustellidae, but is now placed in its own monotypic genus ''Cryptillas'' in the African warbler family

Macrosphenidae The African warblers are a newly erected family Macrosphenidae, of African songbirds. Most of the species were formerly placed in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, although one species, the rockrunner, was placed in the babbler family, Ti ...

. The genus contains 12 species: * Knysna warbler, ''Bradypterus sylvaticus'' * Bangwa forest warbler, ''Bradypterus bangwaensis'' * Barratt's warbler, ''Bradypterus barratti'' * Evergreen forest warbler, ''Bradypterus lopezi'' * Cinnamon bracken warbler, ''Bradypterus cinnamomeus'' * Grey emutail, ''Bradypterus seebohmi'' * Brown emutail, ''Bradypterus brunneus'' * Dja River scrub warbler, ''Bradypterus grandis'' * Little rush warbler, ''Bradypterus baboecala'' *

White-winged swamp warbler The white-winged swamp warbler (''Bradypterus carpalis''), also known as the white-winged scrub-warbler, is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanz ...

, ''Bradypterus carpalis'' *

Grauer's swamp warbler Grauer's swamp warbler (''Bradypterus graueri'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests. Its natural habitats are freshwater lakes and freshwater marshes. It is threatened ...

, ''Bradypterus graueri'' * Highland rush warbler, ''Bradypterus centralis''

Footnotes

References

* Beresford, P.; Barker, F.K.; Ryan, P.G.; & Crowe, T.M. (2005)
African endemics span the tree of songbirds (Passeri): molecular systematics of several evolutionary 'enigmas'
'' Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B'' 272 (1565): 849–858. Supplemental material
* del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (eds.) (2006): ''

Handbook of Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

'' (Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. {{Taxonbar, from=Q611996 Locustellidae Bird genera Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Taxa named by William Swainson