This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, wintering in Africa just south of the Sahara, Arabia and India.

It is slightly smaller than the common whitethroat, and lacks the chestnut wings and uniform head-face colour of that species.

The lesser whitethroat was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla curruca.

It was suggested[citation needed] that the two species separated in the last ice age similar to the pattern found in the chiffchaff and willow warbler, with their ancestor being forced into two enclaves, one in the southeast and one in the southwest of Europe.

These vary much in size and colour pattern, but also lack chestnut wing patches and have a strong contrast between the usually dark head sides and the white or whitish throat.