Cettiidae is a newly validated

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of small insectivorous

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 50 ...

s ("

warblers 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 ...

"), formerly placed in the

Old World warbler Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the ci ...

" wastebin" assemblage. It contains the typical bush warblers ('' Cettia'') and their relatives. As a common name, cettiid warblers is usually used. Some taxonomic authorities include this entire family, as D. Winkler et al. in an enlarged family Scotocercidae. Its members occur mainly in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

ranging into

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. The pseudo-tailorbirds, tesias and stubtails, as well as '' Tickellia'' and '' Abroscopus'' warblers are mostly found in the forests of south and southeastern Asia, with one species reaching as far north as Japan and Siberia. Only one species, Neumann's warbler (''Hemitesia neumanni''), occurs in Africa. The genus ''Cettia'' has the widest distribution of the family, reaching from Western Europe across Asia to the Pacific islands of Fiji and

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Ca ...

. Most of the species in the family are sedentary, but the Asian stubtail is wholly migratory and the

Japanese bush warbler The Japanese bush warbler (''Horornis diphone''), known in Japanese as ''uguisu'' (鶯), is an Asian passerine bird more often heard than seen. Its distinctive breeding birdsong, song can be heard throughout much of Japan from the start of spring ...

and Cetti's warbler are partly migratory over much of their range. A few species, such as the pale-footed bush warbler, are altitudinal migrants. The

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

are small, stubby birds. Most have moderately long to long tails, while the stubtails and tesias have tiny tails that do not even emerge past their tail rectrices. The group is typically clad in dull plumage, often with a line above the eye. Altogether the Cettiidae are a quite variable group containing many aberrant birds that hitherto had been uncomfortably placed with a wide range of unrelated families. The Megaluridae which contain birds which appear very similar to many cettiids are far more uniform by contrast. Most live in scrubland and frequently hunt food by clambering through thick tangled growth.

Taxonomy

The family Cettiidae was introduced by

Per Alström ''Per'' Johan Alström (born 9 April 1961) is a Swedish Professor of ornithology. He researches in taxonomy, systematics, and evolution, with birds in Asia as a specialty. Alström works at the Department of Ecology and Genetics (Animal Ecology) a ...

and coworkers in 2006. The following cladogram showing the family relationships is based on a study by Carl Oliveros and coworkers published in 2019. The number of species is taken from the bird list maintained by Frank Gill,

Pamela Rasmussen Pamela Cecile Rasmussen (born October 16, 1959) is an American ornithologist and expert on Asian birds. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is based at the Michigan State University. She ...

and David Donsker on behalf of the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC). The phylogenetic relationships between the eight genera were determined in a 2011 study by Per Alström and coworkers. The family contains 32 species in eight genera.

References

Sources

* del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (eds.) (2006): '' Handbook of Birds of the World'' (Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. * Sefc, K.M.; Payne, R.B. & Sorenson, M.D. (2003): Phylogenetic relationships of African sunbird-like warblers: Moho ''Hypergerus atriceps'', Green Hylia ''Hylia prasina'' and Tit-hylia ''Pholidornis rushiae''. ''Ostrich'' 74(1-2): 8-17
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q222432 Bird families Taxa named by Per Alström Taxa named by Per G.P. Ericson Taxa named by Per Sundberg (ornithologist) Taxa named by Urban Olsson