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| Following the rediscovery of a form of Laniarius on Manda Island,
Kenya, which had been treated as a melanistic morph of Tropical Boubou
Laniarius aethiopicus for some 70 years, a detailed field study strongly indicated
that it was wrongly assigned. Molecular examination proved that it is the same
species as L. (aethiopicus) erlangeri, until now considered a Somali endemic,
and these populations should take the oldest available name L. nigerrimus. The
overall classification of coastal boubous also proved to require revision, and this
paper presents a preliminary new classification for taxa in this region using both
genetic and morphological data. Genetic evidence revealed that the coastal ally
of L. aethiopicus, recently considered specifically as L. sublacteus, comprises two
unrelated forms, requiring a future detailed study.
The black-and-white boubous—characteristic birds of Africa’s savanna and wooded
regions—have been treated as subspecies of the highly polytypic Laniarius ferrugineus
(Rand 1960), or subdivided, by separating Southern Boubou L. ferrugineus, Swamp Boubou
L. bicolor and Turati’s Boubou L. turatii from the widespread and geographically variable
Tropical Boubou L. aethiopicus (Hall & Moreau 1970, Fry et al. 2000, Harris & Franklin 2000).
They are generally pied, with black upperparts, white or pale buff underparts, and in most
populations a white wing-stripe. However, the all-black birds inhabiting bushy savanna
in northern Kenya and southern Somalia have long been considered as rare morphs of
Tropical Boubous in the same areas. Using molecular phylogenetic data for all relevant
populations, our aim here is to clarify the relationships of these birds. | |
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