''Helopsaltes'' 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 passerine birds in the grassbird family

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 ...

. A comprehensive

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of the grassbird family

published in 2018 found that the genus ''

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, ...

'' consisted of two distinct clades. The genus was split and six species were moved to the newly described genus ''Helopsaltes'' with Pallas's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes certhiola'') as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

ἕλος/''helos'' meaning "marshy ground" and ψάλτης/''psaltis'' "a chanter". As well as the genetic separation, the species of ''Helopsaltes'' also differ markedly from ''Locustella'' in song structure, with varied, 'flowing' warbling songs as opposed to the repetitive and often metronomic insect- (particularly

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

)-like songs of ''Locustella'' species. They are very similar to ''Locustella'' species in their cryptic

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

d plumage, with no differing genus-wide characters; they also show a similar range of size (12–18 cm) to ''Locustella''. The genus contains the following species: * Sakhalin grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes amnicola'') * Gray's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes fasciolatus'') * Marsh grassbird (''Helopsaltes pryeri'') * Pallas's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes certhiola'') * Styan's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes pleskei'') *

Middendorff's grasshopper warbler Middendorff's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes ochotensis'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It breeds in eastern Siberia to northern Japan, Kamchatka Peninsula and northern Kuril Islands. It winters in the Philip ...

(''Helopsaltes ochotensis'')

References

Birds of Asia Bird genera {{Locustellidae-stub