African stonechat
African stonechat | |
---|---|
Adult male in South Africa | |
Adult female in Botswana | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Muscicapidae |
Genus: | Saxicola |
Species: | S. torquatus
|
Binomial name | |
Saxicola torquatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
| |
Subspecies | |
13-17 subspecies | |
Synonyms | |
The African stonechat or common stonechat".
In the past S. torquatus usually referred to the entire "
Systematics and taxonomy
In 1760, the French zoologist
The closest relative of this species are apparently not the
The recent separation as species was proposed after
Subspecies
There are 13 recognised subspecies.[12] They differ slightly in size, and more in the extent of the orange-red on the upper breast of the males, and whether the lower breast is white with a distinct boundary from the upper breast, or pale orange with an indistinct boundary from the darker upper breast. The extent of the orange-red also varies with time of year, often extending on to the belly outside the breeding season.[13]
- S. t. felix Bates, 1936 – southwest Saudi Arabia and west Yemen
- S. t. albofasciatus Rüppell, 1840 – southeast Sudan and northeast Uganda to central Ethiopia
- upper breast black, not orange-red[14]
- S. t. jebelmarrae Lynes, 1920 – east Chad and west Sudan
- S. t. moptanus Bates, 1932 – Senegal and south Mali
- The smallest subspecies.
- S. t. nebularum Bates, 1930 – Tropical West Africa from Sierra Leone to west Ivory Coast
- Extensive orange-red on breast and also flanks.
- S. t. axillaris (Shelley, 1885) – east Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, north and west Tanzania
- S. t. promiscuus Hartert, 1922 – south Tanzania to east Zimbabwe and west Mozambique
- Very limited orange-red on uppermost part of breast only.
- S. t. salax (Bioko Island
- S. t. stonei Bowen, 1931 – east and south Angola to southwest Tanzania south to north South Africa and Botswana
- S. t. clanceyi Courtenay-Latimer, 1961 – coastal west South Africa
- S. t. torquatus (Linnaeus, 1766) – central South Africa
- S. t. oreobates Clancey, 1956 – Lesotho
- S. t. voeltzkowi Grote, 1926 – Grande Comore
Description
The males have a black head, a white half-collar, a black back, a white rump, and a black tail; the wings are black with a large white patch on the top side of the inner wing. The upper breast is usually dark orange-red, with a sharp or gradual transition to white or pale orange on the lower breast and belly depending on subspecies. In a few, black replaces the orange breast feathers in part or entirely.[13]
Females have brown rather than black above and on the head with an indistinct paler eyebrow line, chestnut-buff rather than orange below, and less white on the wings. Both sexes' plumage is somewhat duller and streakier outside the breeding season.[13]
Distribution and habitat
It has a scattered distribution across much of sub-Saharan Africa, occurring locally as far north as Senegal and Ethiopia. Outlying populations are found the mountains of southwest Arabia and on Madagascar and Grande Comore. It is non-migratory, moving only locally if at all. As a result, it has developed much regional variation, being divided into 13 subspecies.[13]
References
- ^ . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
- ISBN 9780598369482.
- ^ E.g. BLI (2008)
- ^ Wittmann et al. (1995), Urquhart & Bowley (2002)
- .
- ^ a b c Wink, M.; Sauer-Gürth, H.; Gwinner, E. (2002). "Evolutionary relationships of stonechats and related species inferred from mitochondrial-DNA sequences and genomic fingerprinting" (PDF). British Birds. 95: 349–355. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-06-11. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
- ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 379–380, Plate 36 fig 4. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
- ^ hdl:2246/678.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 328.
- ^ Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- ^ Bechstein, Johann Matthäus (1802). Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte (in German). Leipzig: Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter. p. 216.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Chats, Old World flycatchers". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- ^ a b c d Urquhart & Bowley (2002)
- ^ Clement & Rose 2015, pp. 122–123, 484.
Sources
- Fieldiana Zool. 34(5):35-64. Fulltext at the Internet Archive
- Clement, Peter; Rose, Chris (2015). Robins and Chats. Helm Identification Guides. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7136-3963-6.
- Urquhart, Ewan & Bowley, Adam (2002). Stonechats. A Guide to the Genus Saxicola. ISBN 0-7136-6024-4
- Wittmann, U.; Heidrich, P.; Wink, M. & Gwinner, E. (1995). Speciation in the Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) inferred from nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b-gene. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 33(2):116-122.
External links
- African stonechat - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.