Prinia 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

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s belonging to the

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 ...

family

Cisticolidae The family Cisticolidae is a group of about 160 warblers, small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They were formerly included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. This family probably originated ...

. They were at one time classed in the

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 ...

family, Sylviidae. The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a little-known group of the tropical and subtropical Old World, the roughly thirty species being divided fairly equally between

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 ...

and

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 ...

. These are birds mainly of open habitats such as long grass or scrub, in which they are not easily seen. They are mainly resident,

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

being limited to local cold weather movements. Non-breeding birds may form small flocks. Prinias have short wings but long tapering tails. They are fairly drab birds, brown or grey above (sometimes with dark streaks) and whitish below. Some species have different breeding and non-breeding plumages. The bill is a typical insectivore's, thin and slightly curved.

Taxonomy

The genus was erected by the American naturalist

Thomas Horsfield Thomas Horsfield (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American physician and natural history, naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the Eas ...

in 1821. 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 ...

is the bar-winged prinia (''Prinia familiaris''). The name of the genus is derived from the Javanese ''prinya'', the local name for the bar-winged prinia. 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 Cisticolidae published in 2013 found that the

rufous-vented grass babbler The rufous-vented grass babbler or rufous-vented prinia (''Laticilla burnesii'') is a small warbler in the family Pellorneidae that occurs in Pakistan, northwestern India and Nepal. Taxonomy The rufous-vented grass babbler was described by the E ...

did not lie within the clade containing the other prinias. Based on this analysis the rufous-vented prinia and the closely related swamp grass babbler were moved to the reinstated genus ''

Laticilla ''Laticilla'' is a genus of small passerine birds in the family Pellorneidae. Members of the genus are found in Pakistan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. A molecular phylogenetic study of the Cisticolidae published in 2013 found that the rufous- ...

'' in the family

Pellorneidae The ground babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds belonging to the superfamily Sylvioidea. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average t ...

Species

The genus contains 29 species: Species formerly in ''Prinia'' but now moved to ''

'' in family

: *

Rufous-vented grass babbler The rufous-vented grass babbler or rufous-vented prinia (''Laticilla burnesii'') is a small warbler in the family Pellorneidae that occurs in Pakistan, northwestern India and Nepal. Taxonomy The rufous-vented grass babbler was described by the E ...

, ''Laticilla burnesii'' * Swamp grass babbler, ''Laticilla cinerascens''

References

* Nguembock B.; Fjeldsa J.; Tillier A.; Pasquet E. (2007): A phylogeny for the Cisticolidae (Aves: Passeriformes) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data, and a re-interpretation of a unique nest-building specialization. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 42: 272–286. * Ryan, Peter (2006). Family Cisticolidae (Cisticolas and allies). pp. 378–492 in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2006) ''

Handbook of the 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 * Urban, E.K.; Fry, C.H. & Keith, S. (1997) ''

The Birds of Africa :"The Birds of Africa" ''is also a five-volume handbook by George Ernest Shelley, published 1896-1912.'' ''The Birds of Africa'' is an eight-volume ornithological handbook. Its authors/editors are C. Hilary Fry, Stuart Keith and Emil Urban, and ...

'', vol. 5. Academic Press, London. {{Authority control Bird genera