Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) [XC715717]
by Alexander Schlatmann from Pomfret, Bophirima, North West, South Africa (call, cricket)
Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) [XC834686]
by Dries Van de Loock from Manyeleti Game Reserve, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Velvet-mantled Drongo (Dicrurus modestus) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), including the subspecies coracinus from west and central Africa, and the subspecies modestus confined to the island of Príncipe and Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) were previously treated as Dicrurus modestus (a monotypic species confined to Príncipe only) and Dicrurus adsimilis (including coracinus) following Collar and Andrew (1988). All are now lumped into Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993), for a review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group found no precedent or justification in the primary literature for treating modestus as distinct.
Forms a superspecies with Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) and often treated as conspecific, but differs slightly in plumage and significantly in proportions and voice. A close relationship between the two supported by recent DNA studies. Previously, Comoro Drongo (Dicrurus fuscipennis), Velvet-mantled Drongo (Dicrurus modestus), Mayotte Drongo (Dicrurus waldenii), Crested Drongo (Dicrurus forficatus) and Aldabra Drongo (Dicrurus aldabranus) thought to be part of same superspecies, but morphological and genetic differentiation considered too great to validate such a relationship. Subspecies divaricatus intergrades with fugax in northern Uganda and Kenya.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
divaricatus (Bechstein, 1794) - South-western Mauritania, Senegambia and Guinea eastern in savanna belt to northern Cameroon, southern Chad, central and southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, south to Central African Republic, northern DRCongo, northern Uganda and northern Kenya.
apivorus Clancey, 1976 - South-eastern Gabon and adjacent PRCongo, west-central and southern DRCongo, Angola, northern and western Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and northern South Africa (northern northern Cape east to northern Limpopo).
fugax Peters, W, 1868 - Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania (including Zanzibar) south to eastern Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, north-eastern South Africa (eastern Limpopo south to north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal) and eastern Swaziland.
adsimilis (Bechstein, 1794) - Western Swaziland, Lesotho lowlands, and eastern and southern South Africa (southern Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal south to south-western western Cape).
jubaensis van Someren, 1931 - Southern Somalia and southern Eithiopia.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet