# Sylviidae

Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that includes the typical warblers Sylvia, and closely related genus Curruca, formerly included in Sylvia. They are found in Eurasia and Africa, with the greatest diversity in the Mediterranean region.

## Taxonomy and systematics

The scientific name Sylviidae was introduced by the English zoologist William Elford Leach (as Sylviadæ) in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1820. The family became part of an assemblage known as the Old World warblers and was a wastebin taxon with over 400 species of bird in over 70 genera. Advances in classification, particularly helped with molecular data, have led to the splitting out of several new families from within this group. There is now evidence that the Sylviidae warblers are more closely related to the Old World babblers than other birds also called warblers
A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial DNA sequence data published in 2011 found that the species in the genus Sylvia formed two distinct clades. Based on these results, the ornithologists Edward Dickinson and Leslie Christidis in the fourth edition of Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, chose to split the genus and moved most of the species into a resurrected genus Curruca, retaining only the Eurasian blackcap and the garden warbler in Sylvia. They also moved the African hill babbler and Dohrn's thrush-babbler into Sylvia. The split was at first not accepted by the British Ornithologists' Union on the grounds that "a split into two genera would unnecessarily destabilize nomenclature and results in only a minor increase in phylogenetic information content", but then later accepted in 2021.
Pycnonotidae – bulbuls (167 species)
Paradoxornithidae – parrotbills and myzornis (38 species)
Sylviidae – sylviid warblers (32 species)
Zosteropidae – white-eyes (152 species)
Timaliidae – tree babblers (58 species)
Pellorneidae – ground babblers (68 species)
Alcippeidae – Alcippe fulvettas (10 species)
Leiothrichidae – laughingthrushes and allies (133 species) :
Phylogeny based on a study of the babblers by Cai and colleagues published in 2019. :

### List of species

The family Sylviidae has undergone several revisions since the above phylogeny was published. As of August 2024, the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 32 species divided among two genera: This list is presented according to the IOC taxonomic sequence and can also be sorted alphabetically by common name and binomial.
| Genus | Common name | Binomial name | IOC sequence |
| Sylvia Scopoli, 1769 | Eurasian blackcap | Sylvia atricapilla | 1 |
| Sylvia Scopoli, 1769 | Garden warbler | Sylvia borin | 2 |
| Sylvia Scopoli, 1769 | Dohrn's warbler | Sylvia dohrni | 3 |
| Sylvia Scopoli, 1769 | Abyssinian catbird | Sylvia galinieri | 4 |
| Sylvia Scopoli, 1769 | Bush blackcap | Sylvia nigricapillus | 5 |
| Sylvia Scopoli, 1769 | African hill babbler | Sylvia abyssinica | 6 |
| Sylvia Scopoli, 1769 | Rwenzori hill babbler | Sylvia atriceps | 7 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Barred warbler | Curruca nisoria | 8 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Layard's warbler | Curruca layardi | 9 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Banded parisoma | Curruca boehmi | 10 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Chestnut-vented warbler | Curruca subcoerulea | 11 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Lesser whitethroat | Curruca curruca | 23 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Brown parisoma | Curruca lugens | 13 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Yemen warbler | Curruca buryi | 14 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Arabian warbler | Curruca leucomelaena | 15 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Western Orphean warbler | Curruca hortensis | 16 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Eastern Orphean warbler | Curruca crassirostris | 17 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | African desert warbler | Curruca deserti | 18 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Asian desert warbler | Curruca nana | 19 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Tristram's warbler | Curruca deserticola | 20 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Menetries's warbler | Curruca mystacea | 21 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Rüppell's warbler | Curruca ruppeli | 22 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Cyprus warbler | Curruca melanothorax | 23 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Sardinian warbler | Curruca melanocephala | 24 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Western subalpine warbler | Curruca iberiae | 25 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Moltoni's warbler | Curruca subalpina | 26 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Eastern subalpine warbler | Curruca cantillans | 27 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Common whitethroat | Curruca communis | 28 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Spectacled warbler | Curruca conspicillata | 29 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Marmora's warbler | Curruca sarda | 30 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Dartford warbler | Curruca undata | 31 |
| Curruca Bechstein, 1802 | Balearic warbler | Curruca balearica | 32 |

## Description

Sylviids are small to medium-sized passerine birds. The bill is generally thin and pointed with bristles at the base. Sylviids have a slender shape and an inconspicuous and mostly plain plumage. The wings have ten primaries, which are rounded and short in non-migratory species.

## Distribution and habitat

Most species occur in Asia, and to a lesser extent in Africa. A few range into Europe.