Red Sea Warbler (Sylvia leucomelaena)

Other Names (World)
Arabian Warbler, Red Sea Warbler, Blanford's Warbler (somaliensis and blanfordi)

Family
Sylviidae (Old World Warblers And Parrotbills)

Size
14 - 15 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Ehrenberg, 1833)

Habitat
Dry savanna. From 250 - 1,900 m.

Range (Guide)

Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Israel (B), Jordan (B) (NB), Oman (B), Saudi Arabia (B), Somalia, Sudan, Yemen (B).

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Subspecies
Generic placement of this species formerly uncertain. Thought by some to be better included in the timaliid genus Parisoma. Has sometimes been considered to form a superspecies with Orphean Warbler (Sylvia hortensis), but they differ significantly in e.g. size, iris colour, tail pattern and tail movements, juvenile plumage and voice. Recent phenotypic and genetic studies suggest that both are closely related to, and form a clade with, Cyprus Warbler (Sylvia melanothorax) and Subalpine Warbler (Sylvia cantillans). Subspecies form two groups, one northern and east of Red Sea (nominate and negevensis) and the other western and south of Red Sea (blanfordi and somaliensis), these differing primarily in size and in degree of sexual dimorphism. Both groups exhibit clinal variation in upperpart coloration (becoming darker and less grey from north to south), and western group also in amount of white on tail (increasing from north to south). Birds from Yemen described as a further subspecies, distincta, but fall into range of individual variation of nominate, within which therefore included.

The following 4 subspecies are recognised:

negevensis Shirihai, 1988 - Arava Valley, along Israel-Jordan border.
leucomelaena (Ehrenberg, 1833) - North-western Saudi Arabia (Tabuk and Khaybar) to southern Yemen, then east to Dhofar (Oman).
blanfordi Seebohm, 1879 - South-eastern Egypt (Gebel Elba) southern along coast to south-eastern Eritrea.
somaliensis (Sclater, WL & Mackworth-Praed, 1918) - Djibouti and northern Somalia.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Red Sea Warbler (Sylvia leucomelaena) - 10 files

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BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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