Yellow-bellied Bush Warbler (Horornis acanthizoides) [XC176813]
by Mike Nelson from Jiji Township, Nantou County, Taiwan Province, Taiwan (call)
Yellow-bellied Bush Warbler (Horornis acanthizoides) [XC323815]
by from Hailuogou, Gongga Shan, Sichuan Sheng, China (song)
Subspecies
Cettia acanthizoides (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Yellowish-bellied Bush-Warbler (Horornis acanthizoides) and Hume's Bush-Warbler (Horornis brunnescens) following Alström et al. (2007) on the basis of vocal, morphological and genetic differences.
When subspecies robustipes of Brownish-flanked Bush-Warbler (Horornis fortipes) treated as a separate species, present species has usually been considered conspecific with it. Subspecies brunnescens, with distinctive vocalizations, possibly represents a separate species.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
brunnescens (Verreaux, 1871) - Himalayas from northern India (Garhwal) east to southern China (south-eastern Xizang). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Hume's Bush-Warbler (Horornis brunnescens).
acanthizoides (Verreaux, 1871) - Southern, central and south-eastern China (central Shaanxi and southern Shanxi south to south-eastern Xizang, northern Yunnan, Sichuan, southern Anhui and northern Fujian).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet