Lesser Striped Swallow (Cecropis abyssinica) [XC339009]
by Peter Boesman from Area north of Kasama, Northern Province, Zambia (call, song, song and call)
Lesser Striped Swallow (Cecropis abyssinica) [XC307296]
by Peter Boesman from Bushwillow Estate, Vaalkop Dam Nature Reserve, near Beestekraal, North West, South Africa (call, song)
Subspecies
Genus often merged with Hirundo, but DNA studies support retention of separate taxa. Often considered to form a superspecies with Greater Striped Swallow (Cecropis cucullata), although ranges overlap widely in southern Africa. Subspecies unitatis intergrades with nominate in southern Sudan and Kenya, and probably overlaps in range with ampliformis in south.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
puella (Temminck & Schlegel, 1845) - Senegambia and Sierra Leone east to northern Cameroon.
maxima (Bannerman, 1923) - South-eastern Nigeria, southern Cameroon and south-western Central African Republic. Also Bioko (Fernando Póo).
bannermani (Grant, CHB & Mackworth-Praed, 1942) - Western and south-western Sudan and north-eastern Central African Republic.
abyssinica (Guérin-Méneville, 1843) - Eastern Sudan and Ethiopia.
unitatis (Sclater, WL & Mackworth-Praed, 1918) - Equatorial Guinea and Gabon east to southern Sudan, Kenya and southern Somalia, south to central Angola, eastern Zambia, Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, Mozambique and eastern South Africa.
ampliformis (Clancey, 1969) - Southern Angola and northern Namibia east to western Zambia and north-western Zimbabwe.