Brown-chested Alethe (Chamaetylas poliocephala) [XC785091]
by GABRIEL LEITE from Gatamaiyu Forest Reserve, Kiambu County, Kenya (alarm call, call)
Brown-chested Alethe (Chamaetylas poliocephala) [XC101157]
by Josh Engel from Karura Forest, Nairobi, Kenya (song)
Subspecies
May form a superspecies with Red-throated Alethe (Chamaetylas poliophrys), White-chested Alethe (Chamaetylas fuelleborni) and Thyolo Alethe (Chamaetylas choloensis). Considerable confusion regarding type locality and subspecific nomenclature: type locality was claimed to be Bioko, apparently due to misunderstanding. Under such an arrangement the Bioko subspecies was considered nominate poliocephala, while westernmost subspecies bore name castanonota. The type series convincingly shown not to have come from Bioko, but very probably from Ghana, and plumage of syntypes matches skins from there. The type locality thus emended, westernmost subspecies becoming nominate, with Bioko subspecies adopting name compsonota. Described subspecies nandensis (from western Kenya) considered synonomous with carruthersi.
The following 10 subspecies are recognised:
poliocephala (Bonaparte, 1850) - Sierra Leone east to Ghana.
compsonota (Cassin, 1859) - Southern Nigeria, Cameroon and south-western Central African Republic south to north-western Angola, and also Bioko I (Fernando Póo).
hallae (Traylor, 1961) - Western Angola (Quicolungo, Gabela).