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Old World Warblers (Sylviidae)

Pallas's Grasshopper-warbler (Locustella certhiola) - HBW 11, p. 614

French: Locustelle de Pallas German: Streifenschwirl Spanish: Buscarla de Pallas
Other common names: Pallas’s/Grey-naped/Rusty-rumped Warbler

Taxonomy: Motacilla Certhiola Pallas, 1811, mountainous region between Onon and Borzya in eastern Transbaikalia.
Forms a superspecies with L. ochotensis and L. pleskei, and has been considered conspecific with one or both. Hybridizes with former in E Russia (in lower Amur area and N Sakhalin), where apparently maintains stable intergrade populations. Studies of mitochondrial DNA indicate that all three species and L. fasciolata form a group, and also suggest that Megalurus pryeri is part of this group and should therefore be moved to present genus. Race sparsimstriata intergrades with nominate in S Siberia (L Baikal area). Four subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • rubescens Blyth, 1845 - breeds in Siberia from R Irtysh E to Kolyma basin and Sea of Okhotsk; non-breeding S & SE Asia.
  • sparsimstriata Meise, 1934 - breeds S Siberia from Tomsk and Novosibirsk E to L Baikal area, S to N Altai Mts and N Mongolia; non-breeding probably S & SE Asia.
  • certhiola (Pallas, 1811) - breeds Transbaikalia E to SE Siberia (S of Okhotsk coast) and NE China (E from Da Hinggan Mts); non-breeding SE Asia.
  • centralasiae Sushkin, 1925 - breeds E Kazakhstan (L Zaysan S to Dzhungarskiy Alatau), NE Kyrgyzstan (Karkara) and Russian and Gobian Altai S to N China (S to E Tien Shan, Qaidam Basin and Ordos Plateau); non-breeding probably India E to Myanmar.

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