Aberrant bush warbler

The aberrant bush warbler (Horornis flavolivaceus) is a species in the bush warbler family, Cettiidae. It was formerly included in the "Old World warbler" assemblage.

Aberrant bush warbler
In Sabah, Malaysia
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Cettiidae
Genus:	Horornis
Species:	H. flavolivaceus
Binomial name
Horornis flavolivaceus (Blyth, 1845)
Synonyms
Cettia flavolivacea Cettia flavolivaceus

It is found in central and southern China, and the northern extremes of Myanmar and Vietnam.^[2] It occurs in the countries of Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam^[1] and also may occur in northeastern and southeastern Bangladesh.^[3]

Taxonomy

The aberrant bush warbler was formally described in 1845 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth based on a specimen collected in Nepal. He placed the species in the genus Neornis and coined the binomial name Neornis flavolivacea.^[4][5] The specific epithet flavolivaceus combines the Latin flavus meaning "yellow" with the Modern Latin olivaceus meaning "olive-green".^[6] The aberrant bush warbler is now placed in the genus Horornis that was introduced in 1845 by Brian Hodgson.^[7]

Thirteen subspecies are recognised:^[7]

• H. f. flavolivaceus (Blyth, 1845) – central, east Himalayas
• H. f. stresemanni (Koelz, 1954) – southwest Assam (northeast India)
• H. f. weberi (Mayr, 1941) – southeast Assam (northeast India) and west Myanmar
• H. f. intricatus (Hartert, EJO, 1909) – north, east Myanmar to south China
• H. f. oblitus (Mayr, 1941) – north Indochina
• H. f. sepiarius (Kloss, 1931) – montane north Sumatra
• H. f. flaviventris (Salvadori, 1879) – montane central, south Sumatra
• H. f. vulcanius (Blyth, 1870) – montane Java, Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa (west Lesser Sunda Islands)
• H. f. kolichisi (Johnstone, RE & Darnell, 1997) – montane Alor Island (east Lesser Sunda Islands)
• H. f. everetti (Hartert, EJO, 1898) – montane Timor and Wetar (east Lesser Sunda Islands)
• H. f. banksi (Chasen, 1935) – montane northwest Borneo
• H. f. oreophilus (Sharpe, 1888) – montane northeast Borneo
• H. f. palawanus (Ripley & Rabor, 1962) – montane Palawan (southwest Philippines)

The last eight subspecies in the above list have sometimes been considered as a separate species, the Sunda bush warbler Horornis vulcanius.^[7][8]