Bush-warblers (or bush warblers) are small insectivorous songbirds of the genera Cettia, Horornis, and Bradypterus. They were formerly placed in the " wastebin" Old World warbler family. None of the genera as traditionally delimited are believed to be monophyletic. ^[1]

Due to their external similarity convergently acquired by strong selective pressures due to the identical habitat, they were occasionally believed to be close relatives. However, they belong to two well-distant families in the Sylvioidea, the " warbler-and- babbler" superfamily:

• Cettia, the cettiid bush-warblers or typical bush-warblers, belong in the Cettiidae, an ancient sylvioid lineage related to long-tailed tits. ^[1]
• Horornis, the horornid bush-warblers, also belonging in the Cettiidae, an ancient sylvioid lineage related to long-tailed tits. ^[1]
• Bradypterus, the megalurid bush-warblers, belong to in the Megaluridae, the grass-warbler family which is closely related to the Malagasy warblers and the peculiar black-capped donacobius from South America, formerly believed to be an aberrant wren. ^[1]

Footnotes

References

• Alström, P.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Olsson, U. & Sundberg, P. (2006): Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 38(2): 381–397. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.015 PMID  16054402 PDF fulltext