Bocage's Akalat (Sheppardia bocagei) [XC509131]
by Dries Van de Loock from Mutanda Nature Lodge, North-Western province, Zambia (song)
Bocage's Akalat (Sheppardia bocagei) [XC660724]
by Dries Van de Loock from Mutinondo Wilderness area, Northern Province, Zambia (alarm call)
Subspecies
Short-tailed Akalat (Sheppardia poensis) and Bocage's Akalat (Sheppardia bocagei) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Sheppardia bocagei following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993).
Nominate subspecies and chapini belong to a "southern (S) group", inhabiting lowland forest, the remaining subspecies to a "northern (N) group", which inhabits montane forest. The two groups have been proposed as separate species on basis of morphological and structural differences, and reported vocal differences, but unclear whether appropriate samples have been compared. Further study is required. When species placed in genus Cossypha, name poensis becomes preoccupied, and population of Bioko receives name insulana.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
granti (Serle, 1949) - South-eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon.
poensis (Alexander, 1903) - Bioko I (Fernando Póo). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Short-tailed Akalat (Sheppardia poensis).
schoutedeni (Prigogine, 1952) - Eastern DRCongo.
kaboboensis (Prigogine, 1955) - Mt Kabobo, in eastern DRCongo.
kungwensis (Moreau, 1941) - Mt Kungwe, in western Tanzania.
ilyai (Prigogine, 1987) - East of Mt Kungwe, in western Tanzania.
chapini (Benson, 1955) - South-eastern DRCongo, south-western Tanzania and northern Zambia.
bocagei (Finsch & Hartlaub, 1870) - Western Angola.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet