Sardinian warbler
| Sardinian warbler | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Adult male, Methana peninsula, Greece | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Sylviidae |
| Genus: | Sylvia |
| Species: | S. melanocephala |
| Binomial name | |
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Sylvia melanocephala (Gmelin, 1789) |
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| Subspecies | |
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2-6, see text |
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2-6, see text
The Sardinian warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) is a common and widespread typical warbler from the Mediterranean region. Like most Sylvia species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back, whitish underparts, black head, white throat and red eyes. Plumages are somewhat variable even in the same locality, with the intensity of a reddish hue on upper- and/or underside varies from absent to (in some subspecies) pronounced. The female is mainly brown above and buff below, with a grey head. The Sardinian warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is very characteristic of the Mediterranean areas where this bird breeds.
Together with Menetries' warbler it forms a superspecies. Both have white malar areas and light throats, and otherwise black heads in adult males, as well as a naked ring around the eye. The subalpine warbler, which seems the superspecies' closest relative, has a dark throat and breast and a dark gray upper head in males, but otherwise shares these characters. These three species are related to a dark-throated superspecies consisting of Rüppell's warbler and the Cyprus warbler, which also share the white malar area with blackish above.
This bird may be considered a superspecies, divided into the western Sylvia melanocephala and Sylvia momus from the more arid regions of the Near East and adjacent Africa.
The genus name is from Modern Latin silvia, a woodland sprite, related to silva, a wood. The specific melanocephala is from Ancient Greek melas, "black", and kephale, "head".
The geographical variation in the Sardinian warbler conforms to some extent with Gloger's rule, though not as strongly as in some other typical warblers. The validity of leucogastra and norissae is not accepted by some authors, and valverdei has been described very recently. On the other hand, leucogastra might be more than one subspecies.
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