Through DNA sequence analysis, it was subsequently discovered that the wrentit was more closely allied to "Sylvia" warblers and some aberrant "babblers". These consequently must be placed in the family Sylviidae together with the wrentit and the parrotbills which also turned out to be close relatives. Thus, the wrentit is the only American species of the "true" or sylviid warblers. Peculiarly, the Dartford warbler and close relatives like Marmora's warbler bear an uncanny resemblance to the wrentit; their ecology is quite similar indeed as all are birds of Mediterranean scrub. However, biogeography and the molecular data build a strong case for this similarity being a case of convergent evolution between birds that are close relatives but by far not as close as their appearance would suggest.