Cape grassbird
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Macrosphenidae
Genus: Sphenoeacus
Strickland, 1841
Species:
S. afer
Binomial name
Sphenoeacus afer
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)

The Cape grassbird or Cape grass warbler (Sphenoeacus afer) is an African warbler found in southern Africa. It is the only species placed in the genus Sphenoeacus.

Taxonomy

The Cape grassbird was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the flycatchers in the genus Muscicapa and coined the binomial name Muscicapa afra.[2] Gmelin based his description on the "spotted yellow flycatcher" from the Cape of Good Hope that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds.[3] The Cape grassbird is now the only species placed in the genus Sphenoeacus that was introduced in 1841 by the English naturalist Hugh Strickland.[4][5] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek sphēn meaning "wedge" with oiax meaning "helm". The specific epithet afer is Latin meaning "African".[6]

Four subspecies are recognised:[5]

  • S. a. excisus Clancey, 1973 – east Zimbabwe and west Mozambique
  • S. a. natalensis Shelley, 1882 – northeast South Africa, west Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and north Lesotho
  • S. a. intermedius Shelley, 1882 – east South Africa
  • S. a. afer (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – southwest, south South Africa

The Cape grassbird was formerly placed in the family Sylviidae.[7][8] Within the family Macrosphenidae the moustached grass warbler (Melocichla mentalis) and the Cape grassbird are sister species.[9]

Description

The Cape grassbird is 19 to 23 cm (7.5 to 9.1 in) long and weighs 27–34 g (0.95–1.20 oz). Its crown and face sides are rufous, except for white around the eye, and it has black malar and moustachial stripes on its white throat. The upperparts are brown with heavy streaking and the long tail is a lighter brown while the underparts are whitish with blackish spotting. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile has a streaked cap and is duller than the adult. The song is jangling and musical, and the call is a nasal pheeeo.[8]

The long, pointed, straggly tail, chestnut cap and facial stripes are diagnostic of Cape grassbird. It is much larger than any cisticola, and the heavily streaked back and the pointed tail eliminate confusion with moustached grass warbler.

Distribution and habitat

The Cape grassbird breeds in southern Africa in South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland with an isolated population in eastern Zimbabwe. It is a common species of coastal and mountain fynbos and long, rank grass on mountain slopes or in river valleys.

Behaviour

The Cape grassbird builds a cup nest low in vegetation. This species is monogamous, pairing for life. Its eggs have one of the slowest rates of embryonic development amongst Southern African species.

The Cape grassbird is usually seen alone or in pairs, moving through vegetation foraging for insects and other small invertebrates.

Conservation status

This common species has a large range, with an estimated extent of 390,000 square kilometres (150,000 sq mi). The population size is believed to be large, and the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as of least concern.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2017). "Sphenoeacus afer". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22714647A118717403. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22714647A118717403.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 940.
  3. ↑ Latham, John (1783). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 2, Part 1. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 332, No. 12.
  4. ↑ Strickland, Hugh Edwin (1841). "On some new genera of birds". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 9: 27–34 [28].
  5. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Cupwings, crombecs, cettiid bush warblers, Streaked Scrub Warbler, yellow flycatchers, hylias". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  6. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 361, 35. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. ↑ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1986). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 37.
  8. 1 2 Bairlein, F. (2006). "Family Sylviidae (Old World Warblers)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 11: Old Word flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 492–712 [611]. ISBN 978-84-96553-06-4.
  9. ↑ Fregin, S.; Haase, M.; Olsson, U.; Alström, P. (2012). "New insights into family relationships within the avian superfamily Sylvioidea (Passeriformes) based on seven molecular markers". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 12 (1): 157. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-157. PMC 3462691. PMID 22920688.
  • Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Struik 2002) ISBN 1-86872-721-1
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