{{Short description|Tiny family of birds found only in Cuba}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Cuban warblers<ref name="hbw parulidae"/> | image = Yellow-headed Warbler (Teretistris fernandinae) cropped.jpg | image_caption = Yellow-headed warbler (''Teretistris fernandinae'') | parent_authority = Baird 1864 | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Teretistris | authority = Cabanis, 1855 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}
[[File:TeretistrisKeulemans.jpg|thumb|right|Oriente warbler (above), and yellow-headed warbler (below); illustration by Keulemans, 1885]] The '''Cuban warblers''' are a genus, '''''Teretistris''''', and family, '''Teretistridae''', of birds endemic to Cuba and its surrounding cays. Until 2002 they were thought to be New World warblers, but DNA studies have shown that they are not closely related to that family. The family consists of two species, the yellow-headed warbler and the Oriente warbler. Both species are found in forest and scrub, with the yellow-headed warbler ranging in the west of the island and the Oriente warbler in the east. The Cuban warblers are {{convert|13|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and have similar yellow and grey plumage.
The Cuban warblers are insectivores, with beetles forming a large part of the diet. Small reptiles and fruit are also taken. They feed in bushes and trees, in pairs or in small flocks during the non-breeding season, and are often the nucleus species for mixed-species feeding flocks with other birds, particularly migrants from North America.
== Taxonomy == The genus ''Teretistris'' was long thought to sit in the New World warbler family Parulidae, until a 2002 study examined 25 genera of New World warbler using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA found that six genera were best placed outside the family, including ''Teretistris''.<ref name="Lovette">{{cite journal |last1=Lovette |first1=I. J. |last2=Bermingham |first2=E. |title=What is a wood-warbler? Molecular characterization of a monophyletic Parulidae |journal=The Auk |date=2002 |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=695 |doi=10.1642/0004-8038(2002)119[0695:WIAWWM]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=86287753 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Five of the genera had long been suspected to not sit comfortably inside Parulidae, but before this study there had never been a suggestion that ''Teretistris'' did not belong in the New World warbler family.<ref name="hbw parulidae">{{cite web | last1=Curson | first1=J |last2=Bonan | first2=A |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor1-first=Josep |editor2-last=Elliott |editor2-first=Andrew |editor3-last=Sargatal |editor3-first=Jordi |editor4-last=Christie |editor4-first=David A |editor5-last=de Juana |editor5-first=Eduardo |year=2019 |title= New World Warblers (Parulidae) |work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive |url=https://www.hbw.com/family/new-world-warblers-parulidae |publisher=Lynx Edicions |location=Barcelona |accessdate=14 February 2019 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
A follow-up study published in 2013 supported the separation of the genus from Parulidae but found it difficult to resolve exactly where it sat with the other nine-primaried songbirds.<ref name="Barker"/> Their closest relatives may be the wrenthrush, genus ''Zeledonia'', now often treated as a monotypic family, Zeledoniidae.<ref name="hbw Teretistridae"/> The study's authors nevertheless recommended separating the genus into its own family, Teretistridae.<ref name="Barker">{{cite journal |last1=Barker |first1=F. Keith |last2=Burns |first2=Kevin J. |last3=Klicka |first3=John |last4=Lanyon |first4=Scott M. |last5=Lovette |first5=Irby J. |title=Going to Extremes: Contrasting Rates of Diversification in a Recent Radiation of New World Passerine Birds |journal=Systematic Biology |date=March 2013 |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=298–320 |doi=10.1093/sysbio/sys094 |pmid=23229025 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The family was included in the 58th supplement of the American Ornithological Society (AOC) checklist in 2017,<ref name="checklist">{{cite journal |last1=Chesser |first1=R. Terry |last2=Burns |first2=Kevin J. |last3=Cicero |first3=Carla |last4=Dunn |first4=Jon L. |last5=Kratter |first5=Andrew W. |last6=Lovette |first6=Irby J. |last7=Rasmussen |first7=Pamela C. |last8=Remsen |first8=J. V. |last9=Rising |first9=James D. |last10=Stotz |first10=Douglas F. |last11=Winker |first11=Kevin |title=Fifty-eighth supplement to the American Ornithological Society's |journal=The Auk |date=2017 |volume=134 |issue=3 |pages=751–773 |doi=10.1642/AUK-17-72.1 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and the family has also been accepted by the International Ornithological Congress' (IOC) ''Birds of the World: Recommended English Names'',<ref name="IOC">{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Enigmatic Oscines | work=World Bird List Version 8.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/enigmas/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=14 February 2019 }}</ref> the ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'''s HBW Alive<ref name="hbw Teretistridae">{{cite web |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor1-first=Josep |editor2-last=Elliott |editor2-first=Andrew |editor3-last=Sargatal |editor3-first=Jordi |editor4-last=Christie |editor4-first=David A |editor5-last=de Juana |editor5-first=Eduardo |year=2019 |title= Cuban Warblers (Teretistridae)|work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive |url=https://www.hbw.com/family/cuban-warblers-teretistridae |publisher=Lynx Edicions |location=Barcelona |accessdate=14 February 2019 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World.<ref name="clements">{{cite web |last1=Clements |first1=J |last2=Schulenberg |first2=T |last3=Iliff |first3=M |last4=Roberson |first4=D |last5=Fredericks |first5=T |last6=Sullivan |first6=B |last7=Wood |first7=C |title=The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018 |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ |website=The Cornell Lab of Ornithology |accessdate=19 February 2019 |date=2018}}</ref> These four authorities have also adopted the common name of Cuban warblers for the family.<ref name="hbw Teretistridae"/><ref name="checklist"/><ref name="IOC"/><ref name="clements"/> The 2013 Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World took a different approach, however, and placed the two Cuban warblers with the wrenthrush in the family Zeledoniidae.<ref name="howard">{{cite web |last1=Dickinson |first1=Edward |last2=Christidis |first2=Les |title=The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World version 4.0 (Downloadable checklist) |url=https://www.howardandmoore.org/ |website=The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World |accessdate=19 February 2019 |date=2014 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603013658/https://www.howardandmoore.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The family contains two closely related species, usually treated as a species pair:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=558285 |title=ITIS Report: ''Teretistris'' |accessdate=3 June 2012 |publisher=Integrated Taxonomic Information System}}</ref><ref name="Garrido"/> {{Species table |genus= Teretistris |authority-name=Cabanis |authority-year=1855 |species-count=two|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}
{{Species table/row |name=Yellow-headed warbler |binomial=Teretistris fernandinae |image=File:Yellow-headed Warbler (Teretistris fernandinae) cropped.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Lembeye|authority-year=1850 |authority-not-original=yes |range= Cuba |range-image=File:Teretistris fernandinae map.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }}
{{Species table/row |name=Oriente warbler |binomial=Teretistris fornsi |image=File:Oriente warbler (Teretistris fornsi) - cropped.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Gundlach |authority-year=1858 |authority-not-original= |range= eastern Cuba |range-image=File:Teretistris fornsi map.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }} {{Species table/end}}
The yellow-headed warbler is monotypic, meaning it has no described subspecies. In 2000 a subspecies of the Oriente warbler, ''turquinensis'', was described from Pico Turquino, a mountain in the south of the island.<ref name="clements"/><ref name="howard"/><ref name="Garrido"/> The subspecies has been accepted by some authorities,<ref name="IOC"/> but one has suggested that further research is required.<ref name="hbw oriente">{{cite web | last1=Curson | first1=J |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor1-first=Josep |editor2-last=Elliott |editor2-first=Andrew |editor3-last=Sargatal |editor3-first=Jordi |editor4-last=Christie |editor4-first=David A |editor5-last=de Juana |editor5-first=Eduardo |year=2019 |title= Oriente Warbler (''Teretistris fornsi''). |work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive |url=https://www.hbw.com/species/oriente-warbler-teretistris-fornsi|publisher=Lynx Edicions |location=Barcelona |accessdate=17 February 2019 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Distribution and habitat == The Cuban warblers are, as their name suggests, endemic to Cuba and its surrounding islands and cays. They have an allopatric distribution, with the yellow-headed warbler living in the west of the island and the Oriente warbler living in the east. The yellow-headed warbler is found on the northern coast of the west of the island, as well as the Zapata Peninsula, Guanahacabibes Peninsula and Isla de la Juventud to the south of Cuba. The Oriente warbler has a more discontinuous range along the northern coast of the east of the island, and a more continuous presence in the south of the island in the Oriente region. The recently described subspecies '' turquinensis'' is found in the eastern mountains of Oriente. The species is also found on the cays to the north of Cuba, but not any cays to the south. The disjunct populations are thought to be due to a lack of suitable habitat in the east. Where the two species co-occur in the Matanzas Province the Oriente warbler is found along the coast whereas the yellow-headed warbler is found inland.<ref name="Garrido">{{cite journal |last1=Garrido |first1=O. H. |title=A new subspecies of Oriente Warbler ''Teretistris fornsi'' from Pico Turquino, Cuba, with ecological comments on the genus |journal=Cotinga |date=2000 |volume=14 |pages=88–93 |url=http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Cotinga-14-2000-88-93.pdf}}</ref>
Both species of Cuban warbler inhabit a range of natural forest with good understory and drier scrubbier habitat, from sea-level up into the mountains of Cuba.<ref name="hbw oriente"/><ref name="hbw yellow">{{cite web | last1=Curson | first1=J |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor1-first=Josep |editor2-last=Elliott |editor2-first=Andrew |editor3-last=Sargatal |editor3-first=Jordi |editor4-last=Christie |editor4-first=David A |editor5-last=de Juana |editor5-first=Eduardo |year=2019 |title= Yellow-headed Warbler (''Teretistris fernandinae''). |work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive |url=https://www.hbw.com/species/yellow-headed-warbler-teretistris-fernandinae|publisher=Lynx Edicions |location=Barcelona |accessdate=17 February 2019 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Oriente warbler is more likely to live in scrub nearer the coasts, and humid forests higher in hills and mountains.<ref name="hbw oriente"/>
== Description == thumb|The forehead and crown of the Oriente warbler is grey, as opposed to the entirely yellow head of the yellow-headed warbler. The Cuban warblers are around {{convert|13|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and weigh between {{convert|6|-|18|g|abbr=on}}. Both are similar in appearance to New World warblers, and have similar plumage to each other. They have grey backs, wings and tails, and yellow faces and throats; the Oriente warbler has a grey {{birdgloss|crown}} and forehead and yellow down to the upper belly, with a white lower belly and rear, and the yellow-headed had an entirely yellow head but a grey breast, belly and rear. Both species have a yellow eye-ring.<ref name="hbw oriente"/><ref name="hbw yellow"/> The sexes are almost identical, but females have slightly shorter tails. The bills are robust and slightly curved,<ref name="Garrido"/> and blackish-grey to grey.<ref name="hbw oriente"/><ref name="hbw yellow"/>
== Behaviour == === Diet and feeding === Insects form a large part of the diet of the Cuban warblers. Stomach-content analysis of the Oriente warbler showed that beetles formed a large part of its diet, with a smaller part of its diet being composed of true bugs (Hemiptera) and moths and butterflies. Both species are also reported to take small lizards; the Oriente warbler has also been reported eating small fruit.<ref name="hbw oriente"/><ref name="hbw yellow"/> The yellow-headed warbler typically feeds in the understorey and mid canopy parts of the forest, a form of niche partitioning with the olive-capped warbler which more usually forages in the higher canopy,<ref name="Plasencia Vázquez">{{cite journal |last1=Plasencia Vázquez |first1=Alexis Herminio |last2=Torrens |first2=Yatsunaris Alonso |last3=Hernández Martínez |first3=Fernando Ramón |title=Distribución vertical de las aves ''Dendroica pityophila'' y ''Teretistris fernandinae'' (Passeriformes: Parulidae) en Pinar del Río, Cuba |journal=Revista de Biología Tropical |date=2009 |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=1263–1269 |url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/449/44918949028.pdf |language=Spanish}}</ref> whereas the Oriente warbler feeds at higher levels in the canopy, above {{convert|5|m|ft|abbr=on}} in the morning, before moving to feed closer to the ground in the evening.<ref name="hbw oriente"/> It has been suggested that this shift may relate to the changes in temperature over the day; as the day heats up foraging birds move lower where it may be cooler.<ref name="Garrido"/>
The Cuban warblers are often found in flocks of up to six birds in the non-breeding season.<ref name="hbw oriente"/><ref name="hbw yellow"/> These small flocks often serve as the nucleus of mixed-species feeding flocks of native species and in particular overwintering migrants from North America. The yellow-headed warbler was found in 82% of mixed species flocks observed in its range, and the Orinete warbler in 42% of its potential flocks (although the sample size was much smaller).<ref name="Hamel">{{cite journal |last1=Hamel |first1=Paul B. |last2=Kirkconnell |first2=Arturo |title=Composition of mixed-species flocks of migrant and resident birds in Cuba |journal=Cotinga |date=2005 |volume=24 |pages=28–34 |url=http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/articles/24/Master%20Cotinga.pdf#page=28}}</ref>
===Breeding=== The nesting biology of the Cuban warblers has not been documented in detail. Both species are seasonal breeders, with a nesting season ranging from March to July and an egg-laying period from March to May.<ref name="hbw oriente"/><ref name="hbw yellow"/> The nest of the Oriente warbler is a simple unlined cup constructed of small vines, roots, moss and feathers. The cup measures {{convert|40|to(-)|55|mm|in|abbr=on}} in diameter, and is {{convert|35|mm|in|abbr=on}} high with a depth of {{convert|23|mm|in|abbr=on}}. The nests are usually placed within {{convert|1|m|ft|abbr=on}} on a branch usually concealed among epiphytes such as ''Tillandsia'' moss or parasitic plants.<ref name="Garrido"/> The nest of the yellow-headed warbler is also a cup, made of similar materials and grass, placed close to the ground in low vegetation.<ref name="hbw yellow"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Teretistris}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Teretistris}}
{{Passeroidea|E.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1066577}}
Category:Teretistris Category:Endemic birds of Cuba Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot