Southern Black Flycatcher (Melaenornis pammelaina) [XC758545]
by Tim Cockcroft from Masuku Lodge, Choma, Southern, Zambia (song)
Southern Black Flycatcher (Melaenornis pammelaina) [XC377000]
by Tim Cockcroft from Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa (song)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Northern Black-flycatcher (Melaenornis edolioides). Geographical variation clinal, and subspecies poorly defined. Subspecies ater sometimes synonymized with nominate and poliogyna with diabolicus.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
tropicalis (Stanley, 1814) - South-eastern PRCongo, south-western and south-eastern DRCongo, Kenya, southern Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and western Tanzania.
poliogyna Lawson, 1964 - Angola (except south) eastern (possibly including southern DRCongo) to south-western Tanzania and north-western Malawi and south to extreme north-eastern Namibia (Caprivi Strip), Zambia and north, western and central Zimbabwe.
pammelaina (Stanley, 1814) - Southern and eastern Tanzania, south-eastern Malawi and northern Mozambique (north of Sul do Save).
ater (Sundevall, 1850) - South-western Malawi, lowland southern and eastern Zimbabwe, Mozambique (south of R Save), south-eastern Botswana, eastern South Africa (south to eastern Cape) and Swaziland.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet