Hume's whitethroat [SEP] parent taxon
Hume's whitethroat
Hume's whitethroat "Sylvia althaea" is a species of typical warbler. Until recently, it was considered conspecific with the lesser whitethroat; today these are seen as members of a superspecies which also includes the desert whitethroat. The present species together with the aridland desert whitethroat(s) seems to form an Asian lineage in the superspecies.
It is distinguished from the lesser whitethroat by its slightly larger size (13–14 cm), slightly stouter bill, and the darker top of the head and darker grey-
.
Desert whitethroat inhabits arid lowland regions from eastern Iran and Turkmenistan eastwards to Xinjiang in central China, breeding in open dry thorn scrub. The breeding range does not overlap with lesser whitethroat, occurring to the southeast of that; it does overlap geographically with Hume's whitethroat but is separated altitudinally. The desert whitethroat migrates south to the Arabian Peninsula, southern Pakistan and northwestern India in the winter, where it does overlap with wintering lesser whitethroat in many areas, and more locally with wintering Hume's whitethroat. Vagrant is Sri