Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) [XC308701]
by Carlos Ferrari from Usulutan, Usulutan, El Salvador (song)
Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) [XC566836]
by Franco Vushurovich from Topolobampo, Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico (alarm call)
Subspecies
Closest relatives of genus may be Empidonomus and Tyrannopsis. Recent molecular-sequence data indicate present genus is monophyletic and sister-group to clade that includes Empidonomus and Griseotyrannus. There are two main clades within genus, loosely corresponding to "tropical species assemblage" and combination of "W" and "E" species groups of earlier authors, but with some exceptions. Formerly treated as conspecific with Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii) owing to limited hybridization in Mexico (southern Veracruz, Atlantic slope of northern Oaxaca), and possibly intergrades with it, but differs significantly in voice. Furthermore, recent molecular data indicate that these two are not each other's closest relatives, but that present species is sister to Grey Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis), with both nested within an expanded "tropical assemblage" as sister-group to an unresolved clade consisting of White-throated Kingbird (Tyrannus albogularis), Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii) and Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana). In addition, a possible hybrid "Tyrannus apolites" with Variegated Flycatcher (Empidonomus varius) described from Rio de Janeiro area of south-eastern Brazil. Geographical variation over the species' enormous range very inadequately known, and current taxonomy potentially erroneous. Subspecies satrapa apparently intergrades with nominate.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
satrapa (Cabanis & Heine, 1860) - Extreme south-western USA (south-eastern Arizona, south-western New Mexico, southern Texas) and western and eastern Mexico (both slopes southern from Sonora, Tamaulipas and southern San Luis Potosí to south-eastern Veracruz and eastern Oaxaca. Also Yucatán Peninsula) south to Panama, northern Colombia and much of northern Venezuela (mostly north of R Orinoco, also along southern bank in north-western Bolívar). Also Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada and Netherlands Antilles.
melancholicus Vieillot, 1819 - Throughout tropical South America (except northern Colombia, northern Venezuela and north-eastern Brazil) south to west-central Peru (Lima) and, east of Andes, to south-eastern Bolivia and central Argentina (south to Neuquén and north-central Río Negro).
despotes (Lichtenstein, MHK, 1823) - North-eastern Brazil (Amapá, Maranhío and Ceará south to Bahia).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet