Angola white-eye

Angola white-eye
Conservation status
Not evaluated  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Zosteropidae
Genus:	Zosterops
Species:	Z. kasaicus
Binomial name
Zosterops kasaicus Chapin, 1932

The Angola white-eye (Zosterops kasaicus), is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. It is found from central Democratic Republic of the Congo to northern and central Angola. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern yellow white-eye.

Taxonomy

The Angola white-eye was formally described in 1932 by the American ornithologist James Chapin based on a specimen that had been collected near Luluabourg (now Kananga) in the Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chapin considered his specimen to be a subspecies of the forest white-eye (Zosterops stenocricotus) and coined the trinomial name Zosterops stenocricotus kasaicus. ^{[1] [2]} The Angola white-eye was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern yellow white-eye (Zosterops senegalensis). The species were split based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2020 that found significant genetic divergence between the two species. ^{[3] [4]}

Three subspecies are recognised: ^[3]

• Z. k. kasaicus Chapin, 1932 – central DR Congo to northeast Angola
• Z. k. heinrichi Meise, 1958 – northwest Angola
• Z. k. quanzae Meyer de Schauensee, 1933 – central Angola

References

1. Chapin, James Paul (1932). "Fourteen new birds from tropical Africa". American Museum Novitates (570): 15. hdl:2246/4197.
2. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 330.
3. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
4. Martins, F.C.; Cox, S.C.; Irestedt, M.; Prŷs-Jones, R.P.; Day, J.J. (2020). "A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Afrotropical white-eyes (Aves: Zosteropidae) highlights prior underestimation of mainland diversity and complex colonisation history". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 149 106843. Bibcode:2020MolPE.14906843M. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106843. PMID   32330543.