Green Hylia (Hylia prasina) [XC301513]
by \u00c9tienne Leroy from feeder road to Sushen Forest, Ghana (call, song, call and song)
Green Hylia (Hylia prasina) [XC34020]
by Mike Nelson from Abuko Nature Reserve, Gambia (call)
Subspecies
Affinities uncertain. Has often been placed in sunbird family (Nectariniidae), mainly on account of certain anatomical features (brush-tipped tongue, flattened hyoid horns), but general behaviour and nest are not typical of a sunbird. Has also been classed as a tit (Paridae) and as a weaver (Ploceidae). Further, has been treated together with the remiziid Tit-hylia (Pholidornis rushiae) in a separate family, Hyliidae, placed next to Nectariniidae. Recent mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that these two species represent one lineage within the diverse assembly of Old World warblers, and are not closely related to nectariniids. Retention of present species in current family provisional, pending further study.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
prasina (Cassin, 1855) - Gambia and south-western Senegal south to Liberia and east to central and southern Ghana and southern Togo, and from southern Nigeria and southern Cameroon east to extreme southern Sudan, western and southern Uganda, western Kenya and north-western Tanzania (Bukoba) and south to northern and western Angola and DRCongo (south to Kasai and Upper R Congo).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet