Collared Sunbird (Hedydipna collaris) [XC442068]
by Rolf A. de By from uMhlathuze Municipality (near Richards Bay), (South) Uthungulu DC, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (call)
Collared Sunbird (Hedydipna collaris) [XC656718]
by Lynette Rudman from Sunday's River Valley Local Municipality (near Alexandria), Western District, Eastern Cape, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Recently, this species and its three congeners were placed in a genus Hedydipna, but this name invalid, current genus name having precedence. Has been suggested that subspecies subcollaris, hypodila and zambesiana represent one or more separate species, on basis of reduced (or lack of) iridescence in plumage of juveniles (whereas metallic colours present even on nestlings of somereni). Further study is required.
Other proposed subspecies are nigeriae (described from Owerri, in south-eastern Nigeria), considered inseparable from subcollaris; ugandae (from Maraquet, Kenya) and phillipsi (R Lofu, in Zambia), both synonymized with garguensis; jubaensis (Hellesheid, on R Jubba, in southern Somalia), merged with elachior; chobiensis (R Chobe, in northern Botswana), subsumed in zambesiana; and patersonae (lower R Pungwe, in eastern Zimbabwe) and beverleyae (R Limpopo, in southern Zimbabwe), both considered indistinguishable from zuluensis.
The following 9 subspecies are recognised:
subcollaris (Hartlaub, 1857) - Senegal and Guinea-Bissau east to coastal Nigeria (east to Niger delta).
hypodila (Jardine & Fraser, 1852) - Bioko I (Fernando Póo).
somereni (Chapin, 1949) - South-eastern Nigeria east to southern Central African Republic and south-western Sudan (west of R Nile), south to north-western Angola (Cabinda, south to Cuanza Norte and Cuanza Sul) and northern DRCongo.
djamdjamensis (Benson, 1942) - South-western Ethiopia (R Alghe and R Sagan area).
garguensis (Mearns, 1915) - Southern Sudan (east of R Nile), eastern and south-eastern DRCongo, Uganda, western Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, western Tanzania, western Zambia (south to Ngoma) and central-eastern Angola (Alto Zambesi to Vila Luso and Malanga).
elachior (Mearns, 1910) - Coastal eastern Africa from southern Somalia (southern from Jubba south of 4° north) south to Kenya (inland to Kenya Highlands) and north-eastern Tanzania (inland to Moshi and Kilosa, south to Dar es Salaam), also Pemba I, Zanzibar and Mafia I.
zambesiana (Shelley, 1876) - North-eastern Angola (Malanje east to Moxico), southern DRCongo and south-western Tanzania south to southern and eastern Zambia, Malawi, northern Botswana, northern Zimbabwe (Zambezi valley, Ngamiland and southern Barotseland) and central Mozambique.
zuluensis (Roberts, 1931) - Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique (southern from Gorongosa) south to eastern Swaziland and north-eastern South Africa (Mpumalanga, north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal).
collaris (Vieillot, 1819) - South-eastern South Africa from southern KwaZulu-Natal south to eastern Cape and south-eastern western Cape (Knysna).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet