''Locustella'' is a genus of small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

birds that include the grasshopper warblers. Formerly placed in the

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

Old World warbler The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxo ...

" assemblage, they are now considered the northernmost representatives of a largely

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

n family, the

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 ...

. These are rather drab brownish "warblers" usually associated with fairly open grassland, shrubs or marshes. Some are streaked, others plain, all are difficult to view. They are

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 ...

. The most characteristic feature of this group is that the song of several species is a mechanical

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

-like reeling which gives rise to the group's scientific name. Species breeding in temperate regions are strongly migratory.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Locustella'' was introduced by the German naturalist

Johann Jakob Kaup Johann Jakob von Kaup (10 April 1803 – 4 July 1873) was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup ...

in 1829 with the

common grasshopper warbler The common grasshopper warbler or just grasshopper warbler (''Locustella naevia'') is a species of Old World warbler in the genus ''Locustella''. It breeds across much of temperate Europe and the western Palearctic. It is bird migration, migrator ...

(''Locustella naevia'') 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 ''Locustella'' is from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and is a diminutive of ''locusta'', "grasshopper". Like the English name, this refers to the insect-like song of some species. There are 23 species placed in the genus: *

Lanceolated warbler The lanceolated warbler (''Locustella lanceolata'') is a species of Old World warbler in the genus ''Locustella''. It breeds from northeast European Russia across the Palearctic to northern Hokkaidō, Japan. It is migratory, wintering in Southe ...

, ''Locustella lanceolata'' * Brown bush warbler, ''Locustella luteoventris'' *

Long-billed bush warbler The long-billed bush warbler (''Locustella major'') is a rare species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in China, India, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. It is also known as long-billed grasshopper warbler. Taxonomy The Long ...

, ''Locustella major'' *

Common grasshopper warbler The common grasshopper warbler or just grasshopper warbler (''Locustella naevia'') is a species of Old World warbler in the genus ''Locustella''. It breeds across much of temperate Europe and the western Palearctic. It is bird migration, migrator ...

, ''Locustella naevia'' *

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 ...

, ''Locustella tacsanowskia'' * Bamboo warbler, ''Locustella alfredi'' *

River warbler The river warbler (''Locustella fluviatilis'') is an Old World warbler in the genus ''Locustella''. It breeds in eastern and central Europe, and into the western Palearctic. It is bird migration, migratory, wintering in inland southern Africa, ...

''Locustella fluviatilis'' *

Savi's warbler Savi's warbler (''Locustella luscinioides'') is a species of Old World warbler in the genus ''Locustella''. It breeds in Europe and the western Palearctic. It is bird migration, migratory, wintering in northern and sub-Saharan Africa. This small ...

, ''Locustella luscinioides'' * Friendly bush warbler, ''Locustella accentor'' * Sulawesi bush warbler, ''Locustella castanea'' * Seram bush warbler, ''Locustella musculus'' * Buru bush warbler, ''Locustella disturbans'' *

Long-tailed bush warbler The long-tailed bush warbler (''Locustella caudata'') also known as the Long-tailed grasshopper-warbler is a species of grass warbler (family Locustellidae). It was formerly included in the "Old World warbler" assemblage. It is found only in the ...

, ''Locustella caudata'' * Baikal bush warbler, ''Locustella davidi'' * Spotted bush warbler, ''Locustella thoracica'' *

West Himalayan bush warbler The West Himalayan bush warbler (''Locustella kashmirensis'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in the northwestern Himalayas. It was previously considered conspecific with the spotted bush warbler. Its ...

, ''Locustella kashmirensis'' *

Taiwan bush warbler The Taiwan bush warbler (''Locustella alishanensis'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found only in Taiwan. Its natural habitat is undergrowth and grassland in elevation. It was first recorded in 1917 and nam ...

, ''Locustella alishanensis'' * Russet bush warbler, ''Locustella mandelli'' *

Dalat bush warbler The Dalat bush warbler (''Locustella idonea'') is a songbird species. Formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" assemblage, it is now placed in the newly recognized family Locustellidae. It was until recently considered a subspecies of ''Locuste ...

, ''Locustella idonea'' *

Benguet bush warbler The Benguet bush warbler (''Locustella seebohmi''), also known as the Benguet grasshopper-warbler, is a songbird species. Formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" assemblage, it is now placed in the newly recognized family Locustellidae. It is ...

, ''Locustella seebohmi'' * Javan bush warbler, ''Locustella montis'' * Sichuan bush warbler, ''Locustella chengi'' *

Taliabu bush warbler The Taliabu bush warbler (''Locustella portenta'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is endemic to the island regency of Taliabu in Indonesia. It has a very small, restricted distribution in a few square kilomete ...

, ''Locustella portenta'' This genus formerly included additional species. A

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'' consisted of two distinct clades. The genus was split and six species were moved to the newly erected genus ''

Helopsaltes ''Helopsaltes'' is a genus of passerine birds in the grassbird family Locustellidae. A comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the grassbird family Locustellidae published in 2018 found that the genus ''Locustella'' consisted of two distin ...

''. A

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

acrocoracoid from the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

(about 11 mya) of

Rudabánya Rudabánya is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary. The town territory was the location of the discovery of a hominid from 12 million years ago, '' Dryopithecus brancoi'' (1969). International relations Rudabánya is twinned with: ...

(NE

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

) is quite similar to this bone in the present genus.Bernor, R.L.; Kordos, L. & Rook, L. (eds)
Recent Advances on Multidisciplinary Research at Rudabánya, Late Miocene (MN9), Hungary: A compendium
". ''Paleontographica Italiana'' 89: 3-36. Given its rather early age (most

Passerida Passerida is, under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two parvorders contained within the suborder Passeri (standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder). While more recent research suggests that its sister parvorde ...

genera are not known until the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Sylvioidea 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 ...

at the least. As the grasshopper warblers are the only known locustellid warblers from Europe, it is still fairly likely that the bone piece belongs to a basal ''Locustella''.

References

Locustella {{Locustellidae-stub