Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire (B), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda, Zambia.
Vagrant to Gambia.
Ghana, Togo, Nigeria and western and southern Cameroon east to Central African Republic, south-western Chad, extreme south-eastern Sudan, Uganda and extreme western Kenya, south to northern Angola, Zambia and south-western Tanzania.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Black-bellied Seedcracker (Pyrenestes ostrinus) [XC856745]
by Jaap van der Waarde from Bigodi Swamp, southeast of Kibale NP, Bunyoro, Uganda (song)
Black-bellied Seedcracker (Pyrenestes ostrinus) [XC856381]
by id from Sembe ETIC office, Congo (Brazzaville) (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
May form a superspecies with Lesser Seedcracker (Pyrenestes minor) and Crimson Seedcracker (Pyrenestes sanguineus), and all sometimes treated as conspecific.
Several subspecies have been proposed, on basis of differences mainly in general size and in bill size and shape, e.g. relatively small rothschildi (described from Niger Delta, in Nigeria), larger and larger-billed frommi (from Kitungulu, in south-western Tanzania), and still larger and huge-billed maximus (from Faradje, in north-eastern DRCongo). However, individuals of each type can be found together in some geographical areas, and they interbreed (pairing behaviour independent of bill-size morph). In addition, intermediates occur, and nestlings of pairs of each size morph are identical in mouth colour and pattern.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet