View source for Grass warbler

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{automatic taxobox
| name = Grasshopper warblers
| image = Locustellaluscinioides.jpg
| image_caption = [[Savi's warbler]] (''Locustella luscinioides'')
| taxon = Locustella
| authority = [[Johann Jakob Kaup|Kaup]], 1829
| type_species = ''[[Common grasshopper warbler|Sylvia locustella]]''<ref name=HM4>{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=251 |title= Locustellidae |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-15}}</ref>
| type_species_authority = Latham, 1790
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
see text
}}

The '''grass warblers''' are small [[passerine]] birds belonging to the [[genus]] '''''Locustella'''''. Formerly placed in the [[paraphyletic]] "[[Old World warbler]]" assemblage, they are now considered the northernmost representatives of a largely [[Gondwana]]n  family, the [[Locustellidae]].

These are rather drab brownish "warblers" usually associated with fairly open grassland, shrubs or marshes. Some are streaked, others plain, all are difficult to view. They are [[insectivorous]].

The most characteristic feature of this group is that the song of several species is a mechanical [[insect]]-like reeling which gives rise to the group's scientific name.

Species breeding in temperate regions are strongly [[bird migration|migratory]].

==Taxonomy==
The genus ''Locustella'' was introduced by the German naturalist [[Johann Jakob Kaup]] in 1829 with the [[common grasshopper warbler]] (''Locustella naevia'') as the [[type species]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Kaup | first=Johann Jakob | author-link=Johann Jakob Kaup | year=1829 | title=Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und Naturliches System der Europaischen Thierwelt | volume=1 | language=de | location=Darmstadt | publisher=Carl Wilhelm Leske | page=115 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41576538 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1986 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=11 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=50 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483751 }}</ref> The genus name ''Locustella'' is from [[Latin]] and is a diminutive of ''locusta'',  "grasshopper".<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n229 229]}}</ref> Like the English name, this refers to the insect-like song of some species.<ref name=OED>{{ OED |Grasshopper}}</ref>

There are 23 species placed in the genus:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Grassbirds, Donacobius, Malagasy warblers, cisticolas, allies | website=IOC World Bird List Version 9.2  | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/grassbirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=27 August 2019 }}</ref>
*[[Lanceolated warbler]], ''Locustella lanceolata''
*[[Brown bush warbler]], ''Locustella luteoventris''
*[[Long-billed bush warbler]], ''Locustella major''
*[[Common grasshopper warbler]], ''Locustella naevia''
*[[Chinese bush warbler]], ''Locustella tacsanowskia''
*[[Bamboo warbler]], ''Locustella alfredi''
*[[River warbler]] ''Locustella fluviatilis''
*[[Savi's warbler]], ''Locustella luscinioides''
*[[Friendly bush warbler]], ''Locustella accentor''
*[[Sulawesi bush warbler]], ''Locustella castanea''
*[[Seram bush warbler]], ''Locustella musculus''
*[[Buru bush warbler]], ''Locustella disturbans''
*[[Long-tailed bush warbler]], ''Locustella caudata''
*[[Baikal bush warbler]], ''Locustella davidi''
*[[Spotted bush warbler]], ''Locustella thoracica''
*[[West Himalayan bush warbler]], ''Locustella kashmirensis''
*[[Taiwan bush warbler]], ''Locustella alishanensis''
*[[Russet bush warbler]], ''Locustella mandelli''
*[[Dalat bush warbler]], ''Locustella idonea''
*[[Benguet bush warbler]], ''Locustella seebohmi''
*[[Javan bush warbler]], ''Locustella montis''
*[[Sichuan bush warbler]], ''Locustella chengi''
*[[Taliabu bush warbler]], ''Locustella portenta''

This genus formerly included additional species. A [[molecular phylogenetic]] study of the grassbird family [[Locustellidae]] published in 2018 found that the genus ''Locustella'' consisted of two distinct clades. The genus was split and six species were moved to the newly erected genus ''[[Helopsaltes]]''.<ref>{{ cite journal | last1=Alström | first1=P. | last2=Cibois | first2=A. | last3=Irestedt | first3=M. | last4=Zuccon | first4=D. | last5=Gelang | first5=M. | last6=Fjeldså | first6=J. | last7=Andersen | first7=M.J. | last8=Moyle | first8=R.G. | last9=Pasquet | first9=E. | last10=Olsson | first10=U. | year=2018 | title=Comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the grassbirds and allies (Locustellidae) reveals extensive non-monophyly of traditional genera, and a proposal for a new classification | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=127 | pages=367–375 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.029 | pmid=29625229 | bibcode=2018MolPE.127..367A | url=https://zenodo.org/record/2587007 }}</ref><ref name=ioc/>

A [[fossil]] [[acrocoracoid]] from the [[Late Miocene]] (about 11 mya) of [[Rudabánya]] (NE [[Hungary]]) is quite similar to this bone in the present genus.<ref>Bernor, R.L.; Kordos, L. & Rook, L. (eds):"[http://rocek.gli.cas.cz/Reprints/Bernor%20et%20al.pdf Recent Advances on Multidisciplinary Research at Rudabánya, Late Miocene (MN9), Hungary: A compendium] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628021930/http://rocek.gli.cas.cz/Reprints/Bernor%20et%20al.pdf |date=2007-06-28 }}". ''Paleontographica Italiana'' '''89''': 3-36.</ref>  Given its rather early age (most [[Passerida]] genera are not known until the [[Pliocene]]), it is not too certain that it is correctly placed here, but it is highly likely to belong to the Locustellidae, or the [[Sylvioidea]] at the least. As the grasshopper warblers are the only known locustellid warblers from Europe, it is still fairly likely that the bone piece belongs to a [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] ''Locustella''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Passerida|S.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q850925}}

[[Category:Locustella]]


{{Locustellidae-stub}}