Cuckoo-finch (Anomalospiza imberbis) [XC338914]
by id from Chiengi area, Luapula province, Zambia (song)
Cuckoo-finch (Anomalospiza imberbis) [XC309973]
by Peter Boesman from Malawi, Lilongwe airport dambo, Central Region, Malawi (flight call, song, display then in flight)
Subspecies
First described as a canary (Fringillidae), then placed in weaverbird family (Ploceidae), and then united with some weaverbirds (those with short outer primary and sexually dimorphic plumage) in a subfamily Viduinae of the waxbill family (Estrildidae). Regarded as a ploceid through most of 20th century, but recent studies of morphology and molecular genetics indicate close relationship with Vidua. Subspecies intergrade and poorly defined, with no constant distinction in size and plumage, and species sometimes treated as monotypic. Also, individual variation in size apparent.
Proposed subspecies tibatiensis (described from western Africa) subsumed in butleri, and macmillani (from Ethiopia), makandakunae (western Zambia) and nyasae (Malawi) synonymized with nominate.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
butleri (Cabanis, 1868) - Gambia, southern Mali (inner R Niger Delta), Sierra Leone and Liberia eastern patchily to Nigeria and Cameroon; southern Sudan and north-eastern DRCongo (Uele).
imberbis (Cabanis, 1868) - Patchily in Ethiopia, eastern Africa, southern DRCongo (Kasai, Katanga) and northern and south-eastern Angola south to northern and eastern South Africa.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet