Lesser Honeyguide (Indicator minor) [XC390478]
by Alan Collett from kwakilusu,oloitoktok, Kenya (song)
Lesser Honeyguide (Indicator minor) [XC510188]
by James Bradley from Oldonyosambu, Arusha, Tanzania (song)
Subspecies
Lesser Honeyguide (Indicator minor) and Thick-billed Honeyguide (Indicator conirostris) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Indicator minor following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993).
Forms a superspecies with Thick-billed Honeyguide (Indicator conirostris) and they have often been merged, but they occur together in western Uganda without interbreeding. They may interbreed in Nigeria, but are so similar in appearance that hybrids are difficult to establish. In past, often confused with Least Honeyguide (Indicator exilis) and other small honeyguides. Several additional named subspecies now judged untenable: erlangeri considered synonymous with diadematus; valens with teitensis; albigularis with nominate minor; and pallidus and alexanderi synonymous with senegalensis, although some pallidus are probably variant form of subspecies conirostris of Thick-billed Honeyguide (Indicator conirostris).
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
senegalensis Neumann, 1908 - Senegambia east to Chad and western Sudan, south to central Ivory Coast, southern Nigeria, northern Cameroon and northern Central African Republic.
riggenbachi Zedlitz, 1915 - Central Cameroon east to south-western Sudan, south to north-eastern Zaire, western Uganda and Burundi.
diadematus Rüppell, 1837 - Central Sudan east to northern Somalia.
teitensis Neumann, 1900 - South-eastern Sudan east to southern Somalia, southern and western (around lowland forest) to central Angola, north-eastern Namibia, Zimbabwe and central Mozambique.
damarensis (Roberts, 1928) - Southern Angola and northern Namibia.
minor Stephens, 1815 - Southern Namibia, south-eastern Botswana, and southern Mozambique to South Africa.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet