Lesser honeyguide

Lesser honeyguide
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Indicatoridae
Genus:	Indicator
Species:	I. minor
Binomial name
Indicator minor Stephens, 1815

The lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor) is a species of bird in the family Indicatoridae that is widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. Like other honeyguides, it is a brood parasite that lays eggs most commonly in the nests of African barbets, but will also occasionally use the nests of other birds as well, such as starlings and woodpeckers. ^[2]

Taxonomy

The lesser honeyguide was formally described in 1815 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens under the binomial name Indicator minor. ^[3] Stephens based his account on "Le petit indicator" that had been described and illustrated in 1806 by the French naturalist François Levaillant based on specimens collected near the Swartkops River in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Eight subspecies are recognised: ^[7]

• I. m. conirostris (Cassin, 1856) – Nigeria to west Kenya, DR Congo and west Angola
• I. m. senegalensis Neumann, 1908 – Senegal and Gambia to north Cameroon, Chad and west Sudan
• I. m. riggenbachi Zedlitz, 1915 – central Cameroon to southwest Sudan and west Uganda
• I. m. diadematus Rüppell, 1837 – central Sudan, Ethiopia and north Somalia
• I. m. teitensis Neumann, 1900 – southeast Sudan and Somalia to Zimbabwe and central Mozambique
• I. m. damarensis (Roberts, 1928) – south Angola to central Namibia
• I. m. minor Stephens, 1815 – south Namibia, south Botswana and south Mozambique to South Africa

Range

The lesser honeyguide is widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa.

Gallery

• 
  The brood parasite nestling, here peeking from the nest of a black-collared barbet, waiting to be fed

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "Indicator minor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016 e.T22680623A92869355. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680623A92869355.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20180903122837/http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/indicatoridae/indicator_minor.htm
3. Stephens, James Francis (1826). Shaw, George (ed.). General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol. 9, Part 1. London: Kearsley et al. pp. 140–141.
4. Levaillant, François (1806). Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique (in French). Vol. 5. Paris: Delachauchée. pp. 137–139, Plate 242.
5. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 67.
6. Grant, C.H.B.; Mackworth-Praed, C.W. (1938). "Seven notes". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 58: 140-147 [144].
7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Jacamars, puffbirds, barbets, toucans, honeyguides". IOC World Bird List Version 15. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 October 2025.

External links

• Lesser honeyguide - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.
• YouTube Video: lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor)