Southern Black Tit (Melaniparus niger) [XC346879]
by Frank Lambert from Okavango river area, Caprivi strip, Namibia (call)
Southern Black Tit (Melaniparus niger) [XC204686]
by Tim Cockcroft from Borakalalo, Bojanala, North West, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Dark-eyed Black Tit (Melaniparus leucomelas), Pale-eyed Black Tit (Melaniparus guineensis), Carp's Tit (Melaniparus carpi) and White-bellied Tit (Melaniparus albiventris), possibly also including White-backed Black Tit (Melaniparus leuconotus). Has been considered conspecific with Dark-eyed Black Tit (Melaniparus leucomelas), but the two appear not to interbreed in area of range overlap in Malawi and Zambia. Subspecies intergrade widely and boundaries imperfectly known.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
xanthostomus (Shelley, 1892) - South-eastern Angola, central and southern Zambia, south-western Tanzania, north-eastern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana and northern South Africa (North West Province).
ravidus (Clancey, 1964) - Eastern Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and central Mozambique south to extreme northern South Africa (northern Limpopo Province).
niger (Vieillot, 1818) - Southern Mozambique south to Swaziland and eastern South Africa (south to eastern Cape).
carpi (Vieillot, 1818) - South-western Angola and northern and western Namibia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Carp's Tit (Melaniparus carpi).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet