The common whitethroat or greater whitethroat (''Curruca communis'') is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and across much of temperate western

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. This small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

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 lightweig ...

is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Taxonomy

The English ornithologist John Latham described the common whitethroat in 1783 in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds'' but introduced the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

''Sylvia communis'' in the supplement to this work which was published in 1787. The specific ''communis'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "common". The common whitethroat is now placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Curruca'' that was introduced by the German naturalist

Johann Matthäus Bechstein Johann Matthäus Bechstein (11 July 1757 – 23 February 1822) was a German naturalist, forester, ornithologist, entomologist, and herpetologist. In Great Britain, he was known for his treatise on singing birds (''Naturgeschichte der Stubenvög ...

in 1802. This species may appear to be closely related to the lesser whitethroat, the

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

having evolved only during the end of the last ice age similar to the

willow warbler The willow warbler (''Phylloscopus trochilus'') is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strong ...

and chiffchaffs. However, researchers found the presence of a white throat is an unreliable morphological marker for relationships in ''Curruca'', and the greater and lesser whitethroats are not closely related. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of the Sylviidae published in 2011 found that within the genus ''Curruca'' the common whitethroat and the lesser whitethroat are members of different

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

s and are thus not sister species. Four

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

are recognised: * ''C. c. communis'' ( Latham, 1787) – breeds in Europe to north Turkey and north Africa; winters in west and central Africa * ''C. c. volgensis'' (

Domaniewski Janusz Domaniewski (1891–1954) was a Polish ornithologist. Notable published works include the following: * 1918: Die Stellung des ''Urocynchramus pylzowi'' Przev. in der Systematik. ''J. Ornithol.'' 66(4): 421–424. (first appraisal of ...

, 1915) – breeds in southeast European Russia, west Siberia and north Kazakhstan; winters in east and south Africa * ''C. c. icterops'' ( Ménétries, 1832) – breeds in central Turkey to Turkmenistan and Iran; winters in east and south Africa * ''C. c. rubicola'' (

Stresemann Stresemann is a German family name which may refer to: * Christina Stresemann (born 1957), German judge; daughter of Wolfgang Stresemann * Erwin Stresemann (1889 – 1972), German ornithologist * Gustav Stresemann (1878 – 1929), German politician ...

, 1928) – breeds in mountains of central Asia; winters in east and south Africa

Description

This is one of several ''Curruca'' species that has distinct male and female

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

s. Both sexes are mainly brown above and buff below, with chestnut fringes to the secondary

remiges Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

. The adult male has a grey head and a white throat. The female lacks the grey head, and the throat is duller. The whitethroat's song is fast and scratchy, with a scolding tone. The hoarse, slightly nasal, call sounds like ''wed-wed'' or ''woid-woid''. The warning cry is long-pulled, rough ''tschehr'' which resembles that of the Dartford warbler. Sylvia communis MWNH 1749

Distribution and habitat

This is a

of open country and cultivation, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

or brambles, and 3–7 eggs are laid. Like most

warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers The ...

s, it is

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

, but will also eat berries and other soft

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

. In Europe, western and eastern populations of common whitethroats have contrasting moulting and pre-migratory fueling strategies to capitalise on food supplies before departing their breeding and non-breeding grounds.

References

External links

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 4.0 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael HeinzeAvibase
* Common whitethroat �
Species text in The ''Atlas of Southern African Birds''
{{Authority control common whitethroat Birds of Europe Birds of Central Asia Birds of Africa common whitethroat common whitethroat

Taxonomy

Description

Distribution and habitat

References

Further reading

External links