Kafa white-eye

Kafa white-eye
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Zosteropidae
Genus:	Zosterops
Species:	Z. kaffensis
Binomial name
Zosterops kaffensis Neumann, 1902

The Kafa white-eye (Zosterops kaffensis) is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. It is found in west and southwest Ethiopia as well as on Mount Kulal in north Kenya. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of Ethiopian white-eye.

Taxonomy

The Kafa white-eye was formally described in 1902 by the German ornithologist Oscar Neumann from a specimen collected near Anderaccha in the Kaffa region of southwest Ethiopia. He placed the new species in the genus Zosterops and coined the current binomial name Zosterops kaffensis. ^{[2] [3]} The genus name combines the Ancient Greek zōstēros meaning "belt" or "girdle" with ōpos meaning "eye". ^[4] The specific epithet kaffensis is from Kaffa Province, a former kingdom in south-western Ethiopia. ^[5] The Kafa white-eye was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Ethiopian white-eye. It was elevated to species status based on the divergence of the mitochondrial DNA sequence and differences in plumage. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Two subspecies are recognised: ^[6]

• Z. k. kaffensis Neumann, 1902 – west, southwest Ethiopia
• Z. k. kulalensis Williams, JG, 1948 – Mount Kulal (north Kenya)

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "Zosterops kaffensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016 e.T103891813A104271391. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103891813A104271391.en . Retrieved 8 September 2024.
2. Neumann, Oscar (1902). "Neues aus Afrika". Ornithologische Monatsberichte (in German). 10 (1): 8-10 [10].
3. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 332.
4. Jobling, James A. "Zosterops". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
5. Jobling, James A. "kaffensis". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
6. 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 8 September 2024.
7. Habel, J.C.; Borghesio, L.; Newmark, W.D.; Day, J.J.; Lens, L.; Husemann, M.; Ulrich, W. (2015). "Evolution along the Great Rift Valley: phenotypic and genetic differentiation of East African white-eyes (Aves, Zosteropidae)". Ecology and Evolution. 5 (21): 4849–4862. doi: 10.1002/ece3.1735 . PMC   4662327 .
8. 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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106843.