Moustached Warbler (Acrocephalus melanopogon) [XC342804]
by Stanislas Wroza from Vauvert, Gard, Occitanie, Georgia (call)
Moustached Warbler (Acrocephalus melanopogon) [XC404337]
by Stanislas Wroza from Dighal, Rohtak, Haryana, Italy (song)
Subspecies
Recent genetic study suggests that Moustached Warbler (Acrocephalus melanopogon), Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) and Black-browed Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus bistrigiceps) form a monophyletic clade, the "striped reed-warbler group", in which traditionally Streaked Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus sorghophilus) is also included.
Individuals of nominate subspecies from Austria differ genetically and morphologically from birds of subspecies mimicus from Kazakhstan (L Alakol).
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
melanopogon (Temminck, 1823) - Southern Europe east to eastern Ukraine (Kharkov) and western Turkey, and north-western Africa.
albiventris (Kazakov, 1974) - Shores of Sea of Azov, lower R Don and Krasnodar area (south-eastern Ukraine and adjacent southern Russia).
mimicus (Madarász, 1903) - Breeds southern and eastern Turkey, Iraq, southern Russia (lower R Volga) and northern Iran east to eastern Kazakhstan. Non-breeding also Afghanistan and north-western Indian Subcontinent.