Black Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus aterrimus) [XC719472]
by Andrew Spencer from Bawku West, Upper East Region, Ghana (song)
Black Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus aterrimus) [XC156657]
by selvino from Mole National Park, Ghana, Ghana (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Common Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus cyanomelas), and are sometimes considered conspecific. Differences in morphology and vocalizations suggest they are probably better treated as separate species.
Birds from Angola and western Zambia, described as subspecies anomalus, now considered inseparable from anchietae; those from Sudan described as cavei apparently inseparable from notatus.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
aterrimus (Stephens, 1826) - Senegambia east to western Sudan.
emini (Neumann, 1905) - Central Sudan to north-eastern Zaire and Uganda.
notatus (Salvin, 1892) - Eastern Sudan and Ethiopia; recently recorded also in north-western Somalia.
anchietae (Barboza du Bocage, 1892) - Southern Zaire and Angola to western Zambia.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet