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 warblers". These birds occur mainly in

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, and the

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n region. The family name is sometimes given as Megaluridae, but Locustellidae has priority. The name derives from the type genus name ''

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, ...

'', which 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 grasshopper warbler, this refers to the insect-like song of many species of ''Locustella'', most notably the common grasshopper warbler ''Locustella naevia''. The

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed; the

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

of the

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 ...

''Megalurus'' in fact means "the large-tailed one" in plain English. They are less wren-like than the typical shrub-warblers ('' Cettia''), but they are similarly drab brownish or buffy all over. They tend to be larger and slimmer than ''Cettia'' though, and many have bold dark streaks on wings and/or underside. Most live in scrubland and frequently hunt food by clambering through thick tangled growth or pursuing it on the ground; they are perhaps the most terrestrial of the "warblers". Very unusual for Passeriformes, the beginning of an

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

towards flightlessness is seen in some taxa. Among the "warbler and babbler" superfamily Sylvioidea, the Locustellidae are closest to the Malagasy warblers, another recently recognised (and hitherto unnamed) family. The black-capped donacobius (''Donacobius atricapillus'') is a

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relative derived from the same ancestral stock and not a wren as was long believed. A comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the grassbird family Locustellidae published in 2018 found that many of the genera, as then defined, were non-

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

. The resulting revision of the genus level taxonomy involved many changes including the resurrection of the genera '' Poodytes'' and '' Cincloramphus'' as well as the description of a new genus '' Helopsaltes''. The former genera ''Megalurulus'' and ''Buettikoferella'' become junior synonyms of ''Cincloramphus''.

Genera

The family contains 67 species divided into 11 genera. * '' Robsonius'' – ground warblers (3 species) * '' Helopsaltes'' – grass warblers (6 species) * ''

'' – grasshopper warblers (23 species) * '' Bradypterus'' – megalurid bush warblers (12 species) * '' Elaphrornis'' – Sri Lanka bush warbler * '' Schoenicola'' – wide-tailed grassbirds (2 species) * '' Poodytes'' – grassbirds (5 species including one extinct) * '' Malia'' – malia * '' Cincloramphus'' – (12 species) * '' Megalurus'' – striated grassbird * '' Catriscus'' – fan-tailed grassbird The relationships between the genera is shown in the following cladogram. It is based on a 2018 study by Per Alström and coworkers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q774034 Bird families Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte