Stout Cisticola (Cisticola robustus) [XC774595]
by Brendan Sloan from Near Ormanye Dam, Nairobi National Park, Nairobi County, Kenya (call)
Stout Cisticola (Cisticola robustus) [XC745596]
by id from Kalwelwa (main forest), Northwestern Province, Zambia (call)
Subspecies
Sometimes treated as conspecific with Aberdare Cisticola (Cisticola aberdare). Affinity of Ethiopian subspecies (nominate subspecies and omo) unclear, may be closer to that species. Subspecies angolensis sometimes considered a separate species on basis of vocal differences, but voice varies greatly across range.
Proposed subspecies ambiguus (central Kenya south to northern Tanzania) considered inseparable from nuchalis. Racial identity of population in eastern PRCongo uncertain, provisionally included in latter.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
santae Bates, 1926 - Highlands of south-eastern Nigeria and south-western Cameroon.
schraderi Neumann, 1906 - Eritrea and adjacent northern Ethiopia.
omo Neumann & Lynes, 1928 - Southern Ethiopian plateau.
nuchalis Reichenow, 1893 - Eastern PRCongo; eastern DRCongo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya south to northern Tanzania.
awemba Lynes, 1933 - South-eastern DRCongo, north-eastern Zambia and south-western Tanzania.
angolensis (Barboza du Bocage, 1877) - Angola, southern DRCongo and north-western Zambia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Angola Cisticola (Cisticola angolensis).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet