- African Stonechat
Taxobox
name = African Stonechat
image_width = 240px
image_caption = Adult male "S. t. axillaris", Kenya
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo =Passeriformes
familia =Muscicapidae
genus = "Saxicola "
species = "S. torquata"
binomial = "Saxicola torquata"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus,1766 )
synonyms ="Saxicola axillaris"The African Stonechat ("Saxicola torquata" [
Etymology : "Saxicola", "rock-dweller", fromLatin "saxum", a rock + "incola", one who dwells in a place; "torquata", Latin for "collared".] )is a member of theOld World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. In the past it was usually included in the "Common Stonechat" ("Saxicola torquata sensu lato"), but all available evidence strongly supports full species status for the European and theSiberian Stonechat s, as well as theFuerteventura Chat andRéunion Stonechat .Wittmann, U., Heidrich, P., Wink, M., & Gwinner, E. (1995). Speciation in the Stonechat ("Saxicola torquata") inferred from nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b-gene. "J. Zoo. Syst. Evol. Res." 33: 116-122.] Wink, M., Sauer-Gürth, H., & Gwinner, E. (2002). Evolutionary relationships of stonechats and related species inferred from mitochondrial-DNA sequences and genomic fingerprinting. "British Birds " 95: 349-355. [http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/institute/fak14/ipmb/phazb/pubwink/2002/28.2002.pdf PDF fulltext] ] Urquhart, E. (2002). "Stonechats". Helm ISBN 0-7136-6024-4.]It has a scattered distribution across much of southern
Africa , and more locally north toSenegal andEthiopia , with outlying populations in the mountains of southwest Arabia and onMadagascar and Grand Comoro Island. It is non-migratory, moving only locally if at all; as a result, it has developed much regional variation, being divided into 17subspecies , one of which is very distinctive and may deserve recognition as a separate species.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 mostly (but see subspecies, below) dark orange-red, with a sharp or gradual transition to white or pale orange on the lower breast and belly. 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.
ubspecies
The subspecies 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.
*"Saxicola torquata torquata" Linnaeus, 1766. EasternSouth Africa .
*"Saxicola torquata clanceyi" Latimer, 1961. Western South Africa.
*"Saxicola torquata stonei" Bowen, 1932. Central southern Africa, from northernmost South Africa north toZaire and southwesternTanzania .
*"Saxicola torquata oreobates" Clancey, 1956. High altitudes in theDrakensberg and other mountains of Lesotho and immediately adjacent South Africa.
*"Saxicola torquata promiscua" Hartert, 1922. WesternMozambique , easternZambia , central Tanzania. Very limited orange-red on uppermost part of breast only.
*"Saxicola torquata altivaga" Clancey, 1988. EasternZimbabwe , Mozambique,Malawi . Previously included within "S. t. promiscua", and very similar to it.
*"Saxicola torquata axillaris" (Shelley, 1884).Kenya ,Uganda , northwestern Tanzania,Rwanda ,Burundi , eastern Zaire.
*"Saxicola torquata salax" (J. & E. Verreaux, 1851). NorthernAngola , westernZaire , Congo,Gabon .
*"Saxicola torquata adamauae" Grote, 1922.Cameroon .
*"Saxicola torquata pallidigula" Reichenow, 1892. High altitudes onMount Cameroon , Cameroon. The largest subspecies.
*"Saxicola torquata moptana" Bates, 1932. Scattered in the westernSahel region from northernSenegal east toNiger . The smallest subspecies.
*"Saxicola torquata nebularum" Bates, 1930. Tropical west Africa fromSierra Leone east toCôte d'Ivoire . Extensive orange-red on breast and also flanks.
*"Saxicola torquata jebelmarrae" Lynes, 1920.Darfur ,Sudan .
*"Saxicola torquata felix" Bates, 1936. SouthwesternSaudi Arabia and westernYemen .
*"Saxicola torquata sibilla" (Linnaeus, 1766). Madagascar.
*"Saxicola torquata voeltzkowi" Grote, 1926. Grand Comoro Island.
*"Saxicola torquata albofasciata" (Rüppell, 1845).Ethiopia n highlands. Very distinct, likely a separate species; upper breast black, not orange-red as in the others.Relationships
The closest living relative of this species is the Réunion Stonechat. These two form a
sub-Saharan Africa n lineage that diverged from theEurasia n one in theLate Pliocene , roughly 2.5 mya; Réunion was colonized immediately thereafter.The recent separation as species was proposed after
mtDNA cytochrome "b" sequence andnDNA microsatellite fingerprinting analysis of specimens of the subspecies "Saxicola torquata axillaris" but not "S. t. torquata", and hence this species was briefly known as "S. axillaris".References
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