Red-faced Cisticola (Cisticola erythrops) [XC337581]
by \u00c9tienne Leroy from Palmci estate, Boubo, Sud-Bandama, Ivory Coast (song)
Red-faced Cisticola (Cisticola erythrops) [XC537321]
by isaac kilusu from Rwampara (near Mbarara), Mbarara, Western Region, Uganda (song)
Subspecies
Red-faced Cisticola (Cisticola erythrops) and Lepe Cisticola (Cisticola lepe) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Cisticola erythrops following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993).
Sometimes placed in a superspecies with Singing Cisticola (Cisticola cantans), but ranges overlap considerably. Subspecies lepe sometimes considered a separate species; reported as being locally sympatric with sylvia in south-eastern DRCongo (Marungu Mts).
Proposed subspecies arcanus (described from north-western Zambia) and elusus (eastern Zimbabwe) synonymized with nyasa.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
erythrops (Hartlaub, 1857) - Senegal and southern Mauritania east to Central African Republic and north-eastern Gabon, south to R Congo.
sylvia Reichenow, 1904 - South-western Sudan, north-eastern and eastern DRCongo, Kenya and central Tanzania.
pyrrhomitra Reichenow, 1916 - South-eastern Sudan and Ethiopia.
niloticus Madarász, 1914 - Blue Nile, in central Sudan.
lepe Lynes, 1930 - Western and northern Angola, possibly extending eastern into south-eastern DRCongo. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Lepe Cisticola (Cisticola lepe).
nyasa Lynes, 1930 - South-eastern DRCongo and southern Tanzania south to eastern South Africa.