Sooty Flycatcher (Muscicapa infuscata) [XC509032]
by id from Mad Man's crossing, Jimbe drainage, North-western province, Zambia (call)
Sooty Flycatcher (Muscicapa infuscata) [XC509031]
by Peter Boesman from Mad Man's crossing, Jimbe drainage, North-western province, Zambia (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Ussher's Flycatcher (Bradornis ussheri) and both sometimes united in genus Artomyias on basis of long wings and short legs (in which case this species is often given specific name fuliginosa, but this name preoccupied in present genus). Often regarded as monotypic, but birds in east of range (north-eastern DRCongo) are clearly separable, as subspecies minuscula; birds from south-western Sudan and south-western Uganda included within latter subspecies, but corroboration of racial identity needed.
Proposed subspecies chapini (described from southern Nigeria) considered indistinguishable from nominate.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
fuliginosus (Cassin, 1855) - Nigeria to north-western Angola, Central African Republic and western Democratic Republic of the Congo.
minusculus (Grote, 1922) - North-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to Uganda, north-western Zambia and northern Tanzania.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet