Old World Warblers (Sylviidae)

Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) - HBW 11, p. 617

French: Phragmite aquatique German: Seggenrohrsänger Spanish: Carricerín Cejudo

Taxonomy: Sylvia paludicola Vieillot, 1817, Lorraine and Picardy, north-east France.
Recent study based on mitochondrial DNA sequences suggests that this species and A. melanopogon, A. schoenobaenus and A. bistrigiceps form a monophyletic clade, the “striped reed-warbler group”, in which traditionally A. sorghophilus also included. Probably closest to A. melanopogon. Monotypic.

Distribution: Breeds NE Germany-Poland border (lower R Oder) E, very locally, to Lithuania, SW Belarus, NW Ukraine and Hungary, and W Russia (E to R Ob); distribution in E & S of range imprecisely known. Non-breeding in W Africa S of Sahara.