Editing Lesser whitethroat

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Lesser whitethroat (40735963543).jpg
| image_caption = Nominate ''Curruca curruca curruca'' in [[Wrocław]], [[Poland]]
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn|author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year= 2019 |title=''Sylvia curruca'' |amends= 2017 |page= e.T22734992A155625468 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T22734992A155625468.en|access-date=21 October 2022}}</ref>
| taxon = Curruca curruca
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| synonyms = *''Motacilla curruca'' {{small|[[Linnaeus|L]],&nbsp;1758}}
*''Sylvia curruca'' {{small|(L,&nbsp;1758)}}
*''Curruca althaea'' {{small|([[Allan Octavian Hume|Hume]], 1878)}}
*''Curruca minula'' {{small|[[Allan Octavian Hume|Hume]], 1873}}
| range_map = SylviaCurrucaIUCN.png
| range_map_caption = Range of ''S. curruca'' (Compiled by: BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World (2019) 2018.){{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#008000|Resident|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#00FFFF|Passage|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}} 
}}

The '''lesser whitethroat''' ('''''Curruca curruca''''') is a common and widespread [[typical warbler]] which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central [[Palearctic]]. This small [[passerine]] [[bird]] is strongly [[bird migration|migratory]], wintering in Africa just south of the [[Sahara]], [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] and India.

Unlike many sylviid warblers, the sexes are almost identical. This is a small [[species]] with a grey back, whitish underparts, a grey head with a darker "bandit mask" through the eyes and a white throat. It is slightly smaller than the [[common whitethroat]], and lacks the chestnut wings and uniform head-face colour of that species. The lesser whitethroat's song is a fast and rattling sequence of ''tet'' or ''che'' calls, quite different from the common whitethroat's scolding song.

Like most "warblers", it is [[insectivorous]], but will also take [[Berry|berries]] and other soft [[fruit]]. This is a [[bird]] of fairly open country and cultivation, with large bushes for nesting and some trees. The nest is built in low shrub or brambles, and 3 to 7 [[Egg (biology)|egg]]s are laid.

==Taxonomy==
The lesser whitethroat was [[Species description|formally described]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758 in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Motacilla curruca''. The specific ''curruca'' is the [[Latin]] word for an unidentified bird mentioned by the Roman poet [[Juvenal]].<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | 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/n125 125]}}</ref> The word had been used for the lesser whitethroat by the Swiss naturalist [[Conrad Gessner]] in 1555.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gesner | first=Conrad | author-link=Conrad Gessner | title=Historiae animalium liber III qui est de auium natura. Adiecti sunt ab initio indices alphabetici decem super nominibus auium in totidem linguis diuersis: & ante illos enumeratio auium eo ordiné quo in hoc volumine continentur | year=1555 | publisher= Froschauer | location=Zurich | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52661237 | pages=355–357}}</ref> Linnaeus specified the [[type locality (biology)|locality]] as Europe but this was restricted to Sweden by [[Ernst Hartert]] in 1909.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Hartert | first=Ernst | author-link=Ernst Hartert | year=1909 | title=Die Vögel der paläarktischen Fauna | volume=1 | language=German | location=Berlin | publisher=R. Friedländer und Sohn | page=588 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14030401 }}</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=275 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483976 }}</ref> This species is now placed in the genus ''[[Curruca]]'' that was introduced by the German naturalist [[Johann Matthäus Bechstein]] in 1802.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Bechstein  | first=Johann Matthäus | author-link=Johann Matthäus Bechstein | year=1802 | title=Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte | language=German | location=Leipzig | publisher=Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter | page=165 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41098775 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=15 July 2023 | title=Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes | work=IOC World Bird List Version 13.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sylvias/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=10 November 2023 }}</ref>

This species has been commonly assumed to be closely related to the [[common whitethroat]], as their common names imply. It was suggested{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}} that the two species separated in the [[Last glacial period|last ice age]] similar to the pattern found in the [[Common chiffchaff|chiffchaff]] and [[willow warbler]], with their ancestor being forced into two enclaves, one in the southeast and one in the southwest of Europe. When the ice sheets retreated, the two forms supposedly no longer recognised each other as the same species. However, scientists researching this question have for quite some time realised that these two [[taxa]] are not particularly close relatives.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

Rather, the lesser whitethroat and its closest relatives [[Hume's whitethroat]] and the [[small whitethroat]] appear more related to a group of [[morphology (biology)|morphologically]] quite dissimilar species. These vary much in size and colour pattern, but also lack chestnut wing patches and have a strong contrast between the usually dark head sides and the white or whitish throat. The latter group occurs from the southern parts of the lesser whitethroat complex' range into Africa and include the [[Orphean warbler]] group, the [[Arabian warbler]], and the [[Brown warbler|brown]] and [[Yemen warbler]]s sometimes placed in ''Parisoma''.<ref>Helbig, A. J. (2001): Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus ''Sylvia''. ''In:'' Shirihai, Hadoram: ''Sylvia warblers'': 24–29. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. {{ISBN|0-691-08833-0}}</ref><ref>Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). ''[[Zoologica Scripta|Zool. Scripta]]'' '''35'''(2): 149–186. {{doi|10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00221.x}}</ref> Thus, it rather appears as if the divergence of the lesser whitethroat complex and its closest living relatives is more ancient than assumed, and that it did not involve separation by ice sheets building up in Europe, but by [[arid]]ification of the [[Arabia]]n region (which also occurred throughout the Ice Ages).

The lesser whitethroat complex has been split up into the present species, Hume's whitethroat, and the small whitethroat from which the Margelanic whitethroat may also be specifically distinct. In this [[superspecies]], the lesser whitethroat seems to form the [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] European lineage. Six [[subspecies]] are nowadays unequivocally accepted<ref name=ioc/> for the lesser whitethroat, and they intergrade throughout Central Europe and Asia:

* ''Curruca curruca curruca'' – '''Western lesser whitethroat''' – western parts of range
* ''Curruca curruca blythi'' – '''Northeastern lesser whitethroat''' – eastern parts of range. Has somewhat paler top of head, separated from face sides by white [[supercilium]].
* ''Curruca curruca halimodendri'' – SE Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to NW Mongolia
* ''Curruca curruca althaea'' – '''Hume's whitethroat''' – Iran, southern Turkmenistan to northern Pakistan and central Asia
* ''Curruca curruca minula'' – '''Desert whitethroat''' – southern Kazakhstan to western China
* ''Curruca curruca margelanica'' – 	northern China

Two more taxa occur in the intergradation zone with the small whitethroat, stretching from the northern [[Caspian Sea]] area into [[Mongolia]].<ref name=BWP>Snow, David W.; Perrins, Christopher M.; Doherty, Paul & Cramp, Stanley (1998): ''The complete birds of the western Palaearctic on CD-ROM''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-268579-1}}</ref> The [[phylogeny]] of these is not well-researched, and they might eventually turn out to belong to either species or be stereotyped [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrids]]:
* ''Curruca curruca/minula halimodendri''
* ''Curruca curruca/minula telengitica''

Similarly, ''Curruca curruca caucasica'' described by [[Sergey Ognev|Ognev]] and [[V. B. Banjkovski|Banjkovski]] in 1910 is intermediate between the lesser and Hume's whitethroats.<ref name=BWP/>

A bird which wintered at [[Landsort]] Bird Observatory, [[Sweden]], differed in the analyzed [[mtDNA]] sequences from all known taxa in the complex, although it most closely resembled ''halimodendri'' in the field. As mtDNA is inherited from the mother only, were this bird a hybrid this should have been recognisable.<ref>Pettersson, Mattias (2001): A Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat in Sweden. ''[[Birding World]]'' '''14'''(1): 12–15.</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lesser Whitethroat at Rajkot (2).jpg|Lesser whitethroat at Rajkot, Gujarat
File:Lesser Whitethroat at Rajkot.jpg|Lesser whitethroat at Rajkot
File:Sylvia curruca (AM LB12401-1) (cropped).jpg|''Curruca curruca'' egg
Curruca curruca MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.196.47.jpg|''Curruca curruca'' - [[MHNT]]
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Sylvia curruca}}
*{{Wikispecies-inline|Sylvia curruca}}
*[http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/species.jsp?lang=EN&id=2D611EBB8110E076&ts=1221723559291&sec=summary Avibase]
* [http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Sylvia_curruca/Sylvia_curruca.htm Feathers of the lesser whitethroat (''Sylvia curruca'')]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q110257504|from2=Q206089}}

[[Category:Curruca|lesser whitethroat]]
[[Category:Birds of Eurasia]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758|lesser whitethroat]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus|lesser whitethroat]]