IOC have yesterday announced split of Subalpine Warbler complex

3 way split: -

Western Subalpine Warbler
Eastern Subalpine Warbler
Moltoni's Warbler

Sorry , more work to IOC lists.........................extract......

We revise the taxonomy of the Sylvia cantillans complex, a group of phenotypically distinct warblers with mainly parapatric distributions around a large part of the Mediterranean basin. We redefine the species limits using a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers and we objectively link available names to the genetically defined lineages by genotyping the surviving type specimens. In addition, the study of archival documents clarifies the exact composition of type series and provides further evidence for the identification of lost types. These results support the recognition of three species-level taxa: Moltoni’s warbler, Sylvia subalpina (north-central Italy, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics); the western subalpine warbler, S. iberiae (North Africa, Iberia, southern France and extreme north-west Italy); and the eastern subalpine warbler, S. cantillans, with subspecies S. cantillans cantillans (southern Italy, Sicily) and S. cantillans albistriata (Balkans, Greece, western Turkey).

These should come officially in IOC 10.2 due in June, although they are not listed there as draft yet: www.worldbirdnames.org/updates/species-updates/ .

We'll update our IOC lists then. One (or two) armchair ticks to look forward to!

Cheers Mike,

Much appreciated

Nick

Sorry excuse my ignorance but I find it hard to follow when splits happen

So the only bird I've seen I had down as Subalpine Warbler, seen May 2019 at Sa Dragonera National Park, Mallorca. Would this likely be Western or Moltoni's, or impossible to put one above the other? I seem to remember at the time talk about Moltoni's being more on the eastern Balearics?

Thanks

Nige