Sylviid warblers (2 Viewers)

[James Lowther]

Can someone more capable than me please explain how this aligns with the recent IOC decision (Apr 28) that 'lumps' minula/margelanica and althaea with curruca/blythi/halimodendri?

Brian

i'm not really sure how capable i am, but i guess:-

• this new paper doesn't address minula/margelanica at all, nor blythi
• it demonstrates that halimodendri is more closely related to althaea than to curruca (as Olsson et al, 2013 also did)
• this finding is at odds with the previous IOC arrangement where halimodendri and curruca were grouped together with althaea separated, so this new paper supports the need for a rearrangement
• a lump is consistent with the evidence in this paper

cheers,
James

 

[Muppit17]

i'm not really sure how capable i am, but i guess:-

• this new paper doesn't address minula/margelanica at all, nor blythi
• it demonstrates that halimodendri is more closely related to althaea than to curruca (as Olsson et al, 2013 also did)
• this finding is at odds with the previous IOC arrangement where halimodendri and curruca were grouped together with althaea separated, so this new paper supports the need for a rearrangement
• a lump is consistent with the evidence in this paper

cheers,
James

Having spent sometime with halimodendri (assumed Clade 2 from range) & althaea in Uzbekistan recently, I am not surprised that there is some commonality between the two (sub)species as their breeding ranges abutt and no doubt there is potential for hybridisation/gene flow at some point in their evolution.

The points raised should also include the morphological, voice and habitat differences that they now exhibit.