Morphological variation and taxonomic revision of five south-eastern subspecies of Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca (L.) (Aves: Sylviidae)

Individual, sex, age, seasonal and geographic variation of size and plumage coloration of Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca (Linnaeus, 1758) was studied on more than 1100 bird skins from all parts of its breeding range. The results of analysis of birds from the south-eastern part of the breeding range of the species support the validity of five light-coloured subspecies: halimodendri Sushkin, 1904, telengitica Sushkin, 1925, snigirewskii Stachanow, 1929, minula Hume, 1873, and margelanica Stolzmann, 1897. Their diagnoses and ranges are refined and supplemented. Numerous phenotypically intermediate birds from intergradation zones between the subspecies show that these five together with the two northern darkcoloured forms S. c. curruca and S. c. blythi Ticehurst & Whistler, 1933, undoubtedly belong to a single species, and not to three species as in Shirihai et al. (2001).