''Scepomycter'' is a genus of

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s in the family Cisticolidae. The two species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to highland forests in the

Eastern Arc Mountains The Eastern Arc Mountains is a chain of mountains found in Kenya and Tanzania. The chain runs from northeast to southwest, with the Taita Hills being in Kenya and the other ranges being in Tanzania. They are delimited on the southwest by the fau ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. They are small, mainly grey birds with a reddish-orange head.

Taxonomy

The Rubeho warbler is a

cryptic species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

only described as separate from the Winifred's warbler in 2009. Winifred's warbler (and by association, the Rubeho warbler) have sometimes been included in the genus ''

Bathmocercus ''Bathmocercus'' is a genus of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It contains the following species: * Black-headed rufous warbler (''Bathmocercus cerviniventris'') * Black-faced rufous warbler (''Bathmocercus rufus'') Species from the genus ''Sc ...

''. *

Winifred's warbler Winifred's warbler (''Scepomycter winifredae''), also known as Mrs. Moreau's warbler, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. The species was first recorded and named by the ornithologist Reginald Moreau after his wife. The species was ...

(''Scepomycter winifredae''). *

Rubeho warbler The Rubeho warbler (''Scepomycter rubehoensis'') is a threatened species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in highland forests in the Rubeho–Ukaguru Mountains in Tanzania. This cryptic species was only described in 2009; it having ...

(''Scepomycter rubehoensis'').

References

* Bowie, R.C.K., J. Fjeldså, & J. Kiure (2009). ''Multilocus molecular DNA variation in Winifred's Warbler Scepomycter winifredae suggests cryptic speciation and the existence of a threatened species in the Rubeho–Ukaguru Mountains of Tanzania.'' Ibis 151(4): 709–719. * Nguembock, B., J. Fjeldså, A. Tillier, & E. Pasquet (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. Bird genera {{Cisticolidae-stub