Locustellidae

Locustellidae is a recently recognised family of small insectivoroussongbirds ("warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" family. It contains the grasshopper warblers, grassbirds, and the Bradypterus "bush warblers". These birds occur mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. The family name is sometimes given as Megaluridae, but Locustellidae has priority.^[1][2]

The name derives from the type genus name Locustella, which is from Latin and is a diminutive of locusta, "grasshopper".^[3] Like the English name grasshopper warbler, this refers to the insect-like song of many species of Locustella, most notably the common grasshopper warblerLocustella naevia.^[4]

The species are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed; the scientific name of the genusMegalurus in fact means "the large-tailed one" in plain English. They are less wren-like than the typical shrub-warblers (Cettia), but they are similarly drab brownish or buffy all over. They tend to be larger and slimmer than Cettia though, and many have bold dark streaks on wings and/or underside. Most live in scrubland and frequently hunt food by clambering through thick tangled growth or pursuing it on the ground; they are perhaps the most terrestrial of the "warblers". Very unusual for Passeriformes, the beginning of an evolution towards flightlessness is seen in some taxa.^[5]

Among the "warbler and babbler" superfamilySylvioidea, the Locustellidae are closest to the Malagasy warblers, another recently recognised (and hitherto unnamed) family. The black-capped donacobius (Donacobius atricapillus) is a South American relative derived from the same ancestral stock and not a wren as was long believed.^[6]

Un estudio filogenético molecular exhaustivo de la familia Locustellidae, publicado en 2018, reveló que muchos de los géneros, tal como se definían entonces, no eran monofiléticos . La revisión resultante de la taxonomía a nivel de género implicó numerosos cambios, incluyendo la resurrección de los géneros Poodytes y Cincloramphus , así como la descripción de un nuevo género, Helopsaltes . Los antiguos géneros Megalurulus y Buettikoferella se convirtieron en sinónimos menores de Cincloramphus . ^{[ 2 ] [ 7 ]}

La familia contiene 67 especies divididas en 11 géneros. ^{[ 7 ]}

• Robsonius – currucas terrestres (3 especies)
• Helopsaltes – currucas de pradera (6 especies)
• Locustella – currucas saltamontes (23 especies)
• Bradypterus – currucas arbustivas megalúridas (12 especies)
• Elaphrornis – Curruca de Sri Lanka
• Schoenicola – pájaros de la hierba de cola ancha (2 especies)
• Poodytes – aves de la hierba (5 especies, incluida una extinta)
• Malia – malia
• Cincloramphus – (12 especies)
• Megalurus – ave de hierba estriada
• Catriscus – ave de hierba de cola de abanico

Las relaciones entre los géneros se muestran en el siguiente cladograma. Se basa en un estudio de 2018 realizado por Per Alström y colaboradores. ^{[ 2 ]}